Heard it at the Board

NYC Election Watch Update

From Joel Kelsey of NYPIRG

Heard it at the Board...

New York City Board of Elections Commissioner’s Meeting

Tuesday, November 30^th, 2004

Election Day Report Card

John Ravitz, Executive Director of the NYC Board of Elections, contended that despite widespread news of Election Day mishaps, most poll sites operated smoothly.  Mr. Ravitz reported that 2.2 million New Yorkers went to the polls on November 2^nd.  Many of those voters ran into one of the 485 broken voting machines in NYC (20 of which had to be replaced) and 14,000 emergency ballots were cast (emergency ballots are used when a machine breaks down and are different from affidavit or provisional ballots).  Addressing the meltdown of their voter helpline meltdown and the constant shutdowns of the Board’s website, Mr. Ravitz promised to bring a number of reforms before the Commissioners to correct the phone system and internet server problems surrounding Election Day.  However, more than phones and websites were broken on November 2^nd.  In order to truly run a smooth election, the BOE needs new machines (with paper-trails), better oversight, and better trained poll workers.

State BOE and the DMV

Peter Kosinski, Deputy Executive Director of the New York State Board of Elections, reported on the procedures affecting the relationship between the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) and individual County Boards of Elections. He noted that the voter registration form that appears at the end of a License or ID application—which is the form distributed by the DMV—has led to some confusion in the past, but insisted there is no systemic problem with the way the DMV registers voters. NYC Commissioner Douglas Kellner mentioned that a significant number of voters that attempted to register through the DMV did not appear on the rolls on Election Day. Mr. Kellner articulated a need for the DMV to readdress the method it transfers voter registration applications to individual county Boards of Elections. In the past the DMV has been severely criticized for not delivering new voter registration information to relevant Boards of Elections. An indication of larger problems, hundreds of New Yorkers called into hotlines on Election Day contending they were registered at the DMV but unable to vote at the polls on Nov. 2^nd.