11/6/2012
By Ivan Pereira
Hurricane displacements, faulty machines and long lines were just some of the problems that caused Big Apple voters to pull their hair out before casting their ballot Tuesday.
At sites across the city, voters expressed deep frustration with the city’s Board of Elections who had to make several changes to the voting rules in light of last week’s storm.
Although the governor’s executive order that allowed New Yorkers to vote with an affidavit at any polling site was aimed to make things easier for hurricane-stranded constituents, it created a nightmare for those who had to wait longer at lines while poll workers attended to the newcomers at sites.
“Really, I think it made the problem worse,” said Jinny Henenberg, 54, who waited nearly two hours at the Metropolitan Community Church in Hell’s Kitchen to vote.
Things got so bad at for an affidavit voter at a Forest Hills polling site that she stormed out and cursed in Spanish when she couldn’t get immediate help from a poll worker.
The city’s Board of Elections confirmed some of the digital voting machines, which are being used in their first presidential election, malfunctioned at some poll sites.
Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who had to wait 40 minutes to cast his ballot on the Upper East Side, added that one polling site that was in an area without power couldn’t get generators until later in the morning.
Amanda Fron, 25, of Hell’s Kitchen, who was voting in the presidential election for the first time, said she was upset when a poll worker told her she couldn’t leave the line at her designated site and vote affidavit in another.
“If they can let you vote anywhere, why won’t they let us just leave the line?” she asked as she waited in the cold.
