NYC’s Board of Elections cited a low voter turnout for the June primary and a declining participation rate over the last few years.
There’s a good reason why. The BOE closed a number of polling sites because they were deemed inaccessible to handicapped voters under the Americans With Disabilities Act. Sending absentee ballots to disabled voters instead of closing polling sites for everyone makes more sense.
Closing polling sites disenfranchises thousands of voters for the sake of a few. Kew Gardens Hills voters lost their chance to cast ballots at a conveniently located site when the BOE abandoned P.S. 164 over two years ago. Unless the BOE corrects this situation, its initials really stand for Barrel of Errors.
Dick Reif
Flushing
