According to The Daily News -- and a friend who lives on the Upper West Side -- the Board of Elections has made last-minute changes to polling places covering 31 voting districts in Washington Heights, Inwood, Harlem, Marble Hill, and Sugar Hill.
The article quotes State Sen. Adriano Espaillat as arguing, rightly so, that the last-minute changes "constitute voter suppression."
The Board of Elections' claim is that the former polling places didn't meet the requirements of the Americans with Disabilities Act, although this is disputed by some friends who say their (now changed) polling places were perfectly accessible.
[T]he change-up is too close to the Sept. 9 primary and could cause widespread chaos in heavily immigrant communities, said former Assemblyman Guillermo Linares.
“Something so late in the process creates concern and confusion[...]"
“It is imperative upon BOE that they inform individuals of where the polling places are,” said Angela Fernandez, executive director of Northern Manhattan Coalition for Immigrant Rights.
Board of Elections Executive Director Michael Ryan says a Federal Court ruling forced them to make the changes. But that decision was handed down in May. The notices of changes were posted in some locations just today. Ryan says voters were notified by mail, but I'm hearing from people that they never received the notices, and the first they learned of the switch was when posters went up in their building lobbies.
“BOE has the responsibility to make it easy for voters to get to the polls, not harder,” Espaillat said. “This is outrageous stuff.”
It certainly is.
9:11 PM PT: 12:11 a.m. EST: Turning in. Will be back first thing in the morning.
Tue Sep 09, 2014 at 5:53 AM PT: Please see colbey's comment --
http://www.dailykos.com/...
-- for more news links.