UPDATE: Queens Courier reporter Bob Doda is on scene at P.S. 107 in Auburndale and reported that technician is at the polling site trying to fix one the scanners. The technician was physically taking the ballots that were jammed into the machine out and placing them in the basket underneath. Currently, two of the four machines are up and working at P.S. 107, but there are not long lines at the site. Some voters were getting frustrated with the ballots as well.
“I brought my own reading glasses,” said a woman who wished not to be named. “The magnifying glass they provide does not work. How could they let this happen?”
The Queens Courier just spoke with City Councilmember Dan Halloran, who has spent the day visiting polling sites in northeast Queens, and he reported major problems with machines at a number of polling places.
Halloran said that P.S. 107 in Auburndale has experienced significant trouble with their machines, having three of the four voting machines down at one time throughout the day. Halloran also reported problems with machines at P.S. 32 in Auburndale, St. Andrew Avellino School in Flushing and P.S. 41 in Bayside, where Halloran was heading back to around 3:15 p.m.
“Some of these calls were put in at noon, and it’s now 3 p.m., and the technicians aren’t even there,” Halloran said.
Halloran said that the machine breakdowns have caused long lines in many of the polling places even causing a handful of voters to try another polling site even though they were not able to cast their vote there.
“Their votes are not going to count and that’s a shame,” Halloran said.
As schools begin to let out for the day and people start to return home from work, the polling sites could get even more crowded, but Halloran is urging voters to stay in line and make sure they vote. Halloran believes that today’s stories could even be worse than the “royal screw up” that Mayor Michael Bloomberg deemed September’s primary.
“Don’t let the fact that the city let you down not let you cast your vote,” Halloran said.
