Things Going Smoothly At Local Polls

Polls opened this morning at 6 for today's general election, and things seem to be going a lot better than they did during the September primary, when a new, scanner-based voting system caused confusion and minor chaos for voters and poll workers alike (Mayor Bloomberg called the Board of Election's performance that day a "royal screw-up.")

"The first time, it was crazy," said Enrique Cruz, a poll coordinator at St. Brendan's School on East 207th Street in Norwood. Things today, he said, are much better. Voters and workers are more familiar with the new machines. "So far, everything is going fine."

The scene at St. Brendan's was fairly quiet, with just a handful of people there to cast their ballots. One of the site's four scanner machines was down, but Board of Elections officials were on their way to fix it. Poll workers were running low on pens to give out (the new ballots require voters to fill in their choices by hand, like a high school scantron test) because voters kept taking off with them, Cruz said.

Voter turnout was steady this morning at the Mosholu Montefiore Community Center, on DeKalb Avenue.

There was a bigger crowd at Mosholu Montefiore Community Center, on DeKalb Avenue, and workers there agreed that things were running much more smoothly than they did in September.

"This is much, much better," said poll coordinator Marie Sparks, who said the site has been busy all morning, the turnout steady. By noon, about 60 people had cast their ballots. "And it's still early," Sparks said. "We've still got nine more hours to go."

Workers at both sites expect things to get busiest around 5 or 6 p.m., as people are coming home from work. Polls close tonight at 9.

Mayor Bloomberg, meanwhile, is checking up on potential polling problems via twitter, asking voters to tweet their experience and tag them with the hashtag #nycvotes. You can always go the tradtional route, too, and report any problems by calling 311.

Has anyone voted today? What was your experience like? Feel free to share your thoughts in the comments section.

Mixed Reviews for New Voting Machines



A woman tests out a new ballot scanning machine in Bedford Park
last month. (Photo by Jeanmarie Evelly)

 So far, there's been both good and bad feedback about the Board of Election's new voting system that debuted today--a paper ballot and scanner to replace the traditional lever machines, which have been used in New York since the 1960s.

Mayor Bloomberg said this morning that the BOE's handling of the new system was "a royal screw-up," and some Bronx voters were inclined to agree.

"They don't know what they're doing," said Nora Baerga, who was chatting with friends on Prospect Avenue and E. 185th Street after she'd returned from voting at Grace Dodge High School nearby. Staff at the polls were "more lost than I was," she said, adding that they didn't have enough pens at the site for people to use--despite the fact that the new paper ballots require voters to fill in their choices by hand.

"I had to use my own pen," she said. "They could have just gone to the TD Bank down the street and gotten the free pens there."

Bedford Park Seniors Test New Voting Machines

A woman at the Bedford Park Multi Service Center feeds her test ballot into a new scanning machine, which the Board of Elections will use for the first time this year (Photo by Jeanmarie Evelly)

Voters hitting the polls in state elections this fall won't have any levers to pull this time. The State Board of Elections has traded in the old machines for a new voting system, debuting in New York on Sept. 14 during the Democratic primary.

The Bedford Park Multi Service Center for Seniors hosted a demonstration this morning to teach seniors how to use the new machines. Voters are given new paper ballots to fill in by hand, using a pen and coloring in a bubble for the candidate of their choice, much like a high school standardized test. They then bring their ballots over to a scanner and insert them into the machines to cast their votes.

The changes were put in place to comply with a federal law enacted after the confusion of the 2000 election, and New York is the very last state to make the switch. Still, patrons at the Bedford Park Center were resistant to the change.

"I'm afraid of computers," said Millie Gilliamsen. "But I'll adjust."