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BOE mailers gave wrong poll sites

CMCrowley_BOEMailer
Photo courtesy of Councilmember Elizabeth Crowley’s office

Some mailers sent out by the Board of Elections (BOE) last month telling voters they had new stations may have given the incorrect address, officials said.

Mailers had originally been sent out to inform voters that some stations had changed in correspondence with new district lines. A number of these sites were wrong.

The BOE was under pressure to get the mailers out between August 1 and 5, said BOE spokesperson Valerie Vasquez, and some voting sites were incorrect as a result.

“In these instances, poll site change notices were immediately sent to every voter affected informing of their correct poll site,” she said. Councilmember Elizabeth Crowley said she noticed the flub right away and immediately called the BOE to find out what had happened. Her staff has been reaching out to voters to encourage them to call the BOE to confirm their new ballot site.

“A week from now, voters from all over New York City may be going to the wrong polling site because the Board of Elections mailed them the incorrect information,” she said.

Crowley was one of several Queens officials to sign a letter from Public Advocate Bill DiBlasio that insisted the BOE remedy the mishap as soon as possible.

“If we can’t even get people to the right poll site to vote, we are really up the creek,” DiBlasio. “The Board of Elections has to make this right. Fast.”

 

— With additional reporting by Melissa Chan