NYC Election Watch Update
From Joel Kelsey of NYPIRG
Heard
it at the Board...
New York City Board of Elections Commissioner’s
Meeting
Tuesday, December 7, 2004
Community and Civic
Groups report not-so surprising findings during Election Day, November 2
John Ravitz, Executive Director of the Board of Elections, acknowledged a number of reports that were released this week. These reports were based on surveys and questionnaires that were conducted during Election Day of Nov 2. The Center for Independence of the Disabled, The League of Women Voters, Women’s City Club and the Asia American Legal Defense Fund, released the reports separately. The groups found a number of problems such as limited access for handicapped residents to poll sites, absentee ballots that were never mailed to eligible voters and names that were missing from voter registration rolls. Confusion over the newly enacted HAVA laws was also a major problem. Many poll workers required old voters to show identification and found many ID’s that were considered acceptable under the Board of Election’s policy invalid. Civic groups also reported that language and the lack of interpreters in many poll sites hindered many citizens from understanding their rights. (NYPIRG WILL BE RELEASING TWO REPORTS ON POLL SITE CONDITIONS IN THE NEAR FUTURE.)
Appointments
Terrence Charles O’Connor was re-appointed by the Council to the City of New York City Board of Elections as the Queens County Democratic Commissioner of Elections, to serve a four-year term that begins on January 1, 2005 and expires on December 31, 2008.
The Department of Justice cleared the way for the BOE to approve poll site changes in the Bronx and Kings Counties.