Local

The problems surrounding voting in the June 23 primary are now well-documented, especially for absentee voters. Some absentee ballots were never mailed out or not received in time; the instructions for returning the ballot were poorly marked on the return envelope; since postage was not required, postmarks were not applied by the USPS, meaning many ballots were invalidated because it could not be determined that they were mailed on time.

The State Legislature has passed some significant changes to election law over the past two years, but if the NYC Board of Elections can’t keep up with these changes then voters will be disenfranchised. We learned recently from State Senator Liz Krueger that the State BOE has drafted a package of recommendations for the City BOE to implement, but the City BOE has refused to meet to even consider these recommendations.

In advance of a hearing today with the NY Assembly and Senate, Grand Street Dems co-signed submitted testimony urging reform and improvement ahead of November’s important general election.

Letter-on-NYS-and-NYC-Elections-Process

If you live in East River, Hillman, or Amalgamated, your poll site has been moved for Tuesday’s primary.

You will be voting at P.S. 134 on East Broadway and Grand Street.

It’s really not far — if you still need to vote in person, please don’t let this change deter you!