Although some people tried to sound the alarm leading up to primary day, the new electronic scanning voting machines caused many problems for voters and the city’s Board of Elections (BOE) drew the ire of Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who called the BOE’s performance “a royal screw-up.”
“It means some voters waited for hours, and other voters may not have a chance to cast their ballots at all,” Bloomberg said on Tuesday afternoon, September 14. “We’ve also gotten reports of broken and missing scanners, emergency ballots and poor customer service.”
Throughout the day, voters – in small numbers overall – headed to the polls to cast their ballots in Republican and Democratic primaries throughout the state. Many seats in Queens, including two in the State Senate and seven in the Assembly, had primaries, but no incumbents seeking reelection lost their primary.
This primary day meant the first time voters used the new electronic voting machines where they had to fill in ovals in a privacy booth and scan the ballot on a touch screen computer to cast their ballots, and voters seemed to give the machines mixed reviews.
“What a hard time that was,” said Theresa Torrellas, who cast her ballot around 1 p.m. in Bayside.
Torrellas said when she initially filled out her ballot and put it into the machine, it came back with an error on it. She had to go back to the table, get another ballot, fill it out a second time and then resubmit it.
However, Patrick Keaveney, who spent less than 10 minutes inside P.S. 41 casting his vote, said the new machines were easy to use.
“I think it’s quicker and easier than the old ones,” Keaveney said. “I hope it’s a little more accurate too.”
While ballot problems were the main focus on primary day, other issues, including polling sites opening more than two hours late, long lines and poor customer service, also were common voter complaints.
“The people working inside need more training,” said Norman George, who voted at Merrick Park Baptist Church in Jamaica early Tuesday. “The paper ballots are easy to use, but the workers need more knowledge.”
Another problem some voters mentioned was the small type on the ballot, but Jamaica resident Arnold Linton said that wasn’t an issue for him.
“I didn’t have any trouble reading the ballot or voting at all,” Linton said. “They have magnifying glasses for anyone who has trouble reading.”
– With additional reporting by Steve Mosco
