2016 Postmortem
Related: About this forumAmid voting issues, de Blasio calls for ‘major reforms’ at Board of Elections
Amid voting issues, de Blasio calls for major reforms at Board of Elections
By LAURA NAHMIAS 5:52 p.m. | Apr. 19, 2016
Mayor Bill de Blasio said Tuesday that "major reforms" are needed at the City's Board of Elections, amid widespread reports of voter purges and problems at polling sites during voting in New York State's presidential primary.
It has been reported to us from voters and voting rights monitors that the voting lists in Brooklyn contain numerous errors, including the purging of entire buildings and blocks of voters from the voting lists. I am calling on the Board of Election to reverse that purge and update the lists again using Central, not Brooklyn borough, Board of Election staff," de Blasio said in a statement Tuesday night.
The Board of Elections confirmed that it had removed 126,000 Brooklyn Democrats from its voter rolls since last fall, in part because the Board was "a little behind" in updating its voter registration records, the Board's executive director Michael Ryan explained to WNYC.
While election days are always tumultuous in New York City and rare is the electoral contest that passes without some kind of malfunction or SNAFU at city polling sites, there were some indications Tuesday afternoon that voters may be encountering even more problems casting their ballots than usual. ...
http://www.capitalnewyork.com/article/city-hall/2016/04/8597121/amid-voting-issues-de-blasio-calls-major-reforms-board-elections
onehandle
(51,122 posts)lagomorph777
(30,613 posts)...I think it points to real, serious problems.
Amazing coincidence that the purges happened in the borough Bernie was born in.
FlatBaroque
(3,160 posts)Dem2
(8,168 posts)so if anybody lost votes, it was Hillary.
lagomorph777
(30,613 posts)If Bernie performed at less than statewide average, in his birthplace, something is obviously amiss.
Dem2
(8,168 posts)Bernie lost all of the boroughs by a margin like that or worse. It makes perfect sense and she actually lost votes because if more people voted she would have won by more votes. The end.
lagomorph777
(30,613 posts)Brooklyn BOE: 345 Adams St, Brooklyn, NY 11201
Hillary HQ: One Pierrepont Plaza, Brooklyn, NY 11201
Looks like a ten minute walk
Dem2
(8,168 posts)I figured as much.
lagomorph777
(30,613 posts)He would have to have his back against the wall to do that!
Dem2
(8,168 posts)So of course he's going to investigate.
lagomorph777
(30,613 posts)We're all on the side of verifiable truth!
Dem2
(8,168 posts)I've said that several times today.
randome
(34,845 posts)[hr][font color="blue"][center]There is nothing you can't do if you put your mind to it.
Nothing.[/center][/font][hr]
MisterP
(23,730 posts)at having had the bayonets pointed at them
Sounds like some bullshit occurred, though we'll know more after the investigation.
ViseGrip
(3,133 posts)whatchamacallit
(15,558 posts)global1
(25,253 posts)Why don't they call for major reforms before an election? He's just trying to look like he's concerned. There will be 4 years until the next time this issue comes up in such a visible way. Nothing will happen. Nothing will change. They'll have the same problems or worse then.
These types of problems are necessary in order to rig elections. They won't reform things - because then it would be too fair and they might not get a chance to call the shots.
Dems to Win
(2,161 posts)I'm furious this morning. Massive, widespread fraud and voter suppression, and nothing will be done about it. I can't respect the result of a primary when it looks rigged, plain and simple.
Very interesting, and infuriating, comment on a Guardian article last night. 20% of the Democratic voters in this precinct had to vote an affidavit ballot, which probably will not be counted.
http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/apr/19/hillary-clinton-wins-new-york-primary-bernie-sanders#comment-72701065
Rheannon 14h ago
Hillary Clinton did not win this fairly. I just got off my 17 hour shift as an election official in East Hampton, NY. I am from this area and went canvassing for Bernie for 4 days here. While canvassing, I found overwhelming support for Bernie in my middle class area -- nearly every house where I actually talked to voters (about 40% of the houses), almost all were for Bernie.
But today at the polls, many of those had disappeared from the voter roll book. In my own ED district, which is the district I was working in, out of 166 Democratic voters, 39 were forced to file affidavit ballots. (ONLY 2 Republican voters had to file affidavits.) That's close to 20%. Let that sink in for a moment.
Many of these voters were long term registered Democrats -- some were in couples where one person was on the rolls and the other was not. Most had not moved since the last election and had voted in the most recent elections.
Hillary won by 11 votes in my ED -- not counting affidavits. THE AFFIDAVITS MUST NOT ONLY BE COUNTED, THEY MUST BE ALLOWED.
It was impossible for me, an election official, to get a straight story on whether the affidavits would be counted. The "coordinator" -- the top person at the site -- let slip that they count the affidavits "proportionately". If she is correct, that means, I assume, they take a sample of the ballots to count. Not all. If that sample is based on the proportion of official ballots cast, then I imagine it would just reproduce the first results WITHOUT the affidavits.
But it's worse than that. If the voter has been purged from the Board of Elections rolls -- like 125,000 Brooklyn voters were -- then it seems the affidavits (because no one could tell me for certain WHAT would happen to the affidavits -- are not counted. If you can't prove you are a registered Democrat, then you won't be counted, it seems. (If you received a voter card, you have some proof. But not everyone did or they may not be able to retrieve it.)
The ruling that came down from the emergency voter protection suit was no remedy. It allowed for getting a court order to vote. The nearest judge is more than an hour from here. And I was strongly discouraged from even informing voters that a court order was an option (I had to fight to be able to tell people of their right to a court order.)
Finally -- this was NOT business as usual. This was my second election. The last one I worked at, exactly ONE voter needed an affidavit ballot in my ED. Every poll worker there, at all the ED tables (there were 4) was shocked at the number of voters who were not on the rolls. Many have been working for years -- and had never seen anything remotely like this.
The whole purging and affidavit process needs to be investigated on an emergency basis BEFORE the election results are decided. Bernie's folks need to be on top of this. They need to fight for an honest election. They owe it to us who have worked so hard for them.
Ino
(3,366 posts)No one can claim this was an accident