Primary Day Live Updates: How Did Voting Go For You Today? A Voter Advisory Committee Wants To Know About It

9 p.m. Polls have officially closed in New York State following 15 hours of confusion and frustration at several polling sites in New York City during this primary, where those frustrations were compounded by the pandemic that resulted in more than 760,000 absentee ballots distributed by the New York City Board of Elections.

Those frustrations are being solicited by the New York City Voter Assistance Advisory Committee, which has planned a July 1st hearing to gauge voters over their voting experience. Members of the Campaign Finance Board will likely have gotten a preview of what to expect if they turn to Twitter, where New York City voters vented over not receiving an absentee ballot, being unable to vote because their site was closed during the early morning, or did not have a complete two-page ballot divided between presidential/congressional races and local state races.

The virtual hearing is slated for 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. with details expected on how to tune into the hearing sent out via an advisory. RSVP is required if you want to provide testimony. To submit written testimony, email [email protected]. Solicited testimony is often used to recommend legislation to make the next voting experience easier.

Meantime, there were reports of insanely long lines in the Lefrak City neighborhood in Queens, with many voters waiting upwards of three hours to vote, according to several tweets, including one from Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who is running for re-election.

Board Of Elections Updates Number Of Voters Who Received An Absentee Ballot

7:25 p.m. The New York City Board of Elections sent out 765,031 absentee ballots to registered Democrats across the five boroughs, an update from its previous number last week that showed 679,245 were sent out to registered Democrats, a 12 percent increase from last count.

The figures illustrate how critical these ballots will be to primary election races this evening, while also signaling that there may not be a clear winner after the polls close at 9 p.m. since ballot counting begins on June 30th. The 2016 presidential primary saw 157,885 people filing absentee ballots.

Missing in the BOE’s numbers is the number of voters who had actually requested such ballots, offering an incomplete picture over the absentee ballot application process. What’s also unclear is how many of those requested ballots actually got into the hands of voters. We won’t know that until at least next week.

The new figures come during a day of confusion and frustration at the polls.

Meantime, while polls will close exactly at 9 p.m., the BOE reminds voters that if you’re standing on line before 9 p.m. your vote will still be counted even after you cast a ballot past the time polls close. This can prove beneficial to voters in Queens, where one polling site is reported to have voters waiting more than two hours to go inside their polling site in Lefrak City, according to interim Queens Borough President Sharon Lee.

On Twitter, the BOE responded to Lee's tweet saying that a team is has been dispatched to the site "immediately."

Board Of Elections Asked To Extend Voting Hours At Four Polling Sites With Technical Issues

6:30 p.m. The Lawyers' Committee For Civil Rights Under Law has called upon the city Board of Elections to extend voting hours at four sites that opened late or had technical issues on Primary Day.

Attorney Paula Colbath of Loeb & Loeb, who serves on the committee's Election Protection Coalition wrote to the BOE expressing that "we have received numerous calls and reports regarding New York City polling places not being opened on time, causing voters to leave without voting. These locations remained closed for between an hour and three hours past their scheduled opening time."

The identified sites are:

P.S. 70, Max Schoenfeld School at 1691 Weeks Avenue in the Bronx - "Multiple voters reported that this polling place did not open until after 7:00 a.m. During that period, voters were not permitted to enter the polling place and no voting took place. Poll workers told voters that they were unable to open because a lead poll worker had not arrived. At approximately 7:00 a.m., poll workers began to let voters into the location to vote, but when voters attempted to vote, an iPad used for checking-in voters indicated that every voter was not at the correct polling site. As a result of this issue, voting was further delayed by at least another 15 minutes, at which time poll workers offered voters paper ballots. Multiple voters were unable to vote because they needed to go to work or had to leave for other reasons. (One voter who attempted to vote at the Weeks Avenue location reported that, as of 8:00 a.m., a voter reported that she was given a regular ballot for the 15th Congressional District election but an affidavit ballot for the Presidential Preference Primary)," Colbath wrote.

P.S. 20, Anna Silver School –166 Essex Street in Manhattan: "Multiple voters called the Election Protection hotline to report that this polling place did not open until after 7:00 a.m. During that period, the doors to the polling place also remained locked, voters were not permitted to enter the polling place, and no voting took place. Poll workers stated that this location did not open on time because (a) there was an insufficient number of poll workers and (b) poll workers were experiencing difficulties operating tablets used to check-in voters. Multiple voters left the polling place without voting, some of whom said that they had to go to work."

P.S. 175, City Island – 200 City Island Avenue in the Bronx - "A voter reported that this polling place did not open until after 9:00 a.m. During that period, voters were not permitted to enter the polling place and no voting occurred. Poll workers told voters that they were unable to open because the lead poll worker had not arrived. Prior to 9 am, the voter witnessed multiple voters leaving without voting as a result of these problems and observed a line of at least 25 people."

M.S. 246, Walt Whitman – 72 Veronica Place in Brooklyn - "News agencies report polling machines were not unlocked for the first three and a half hours of voting and voters had to be offered written affadavits. Subsequent reports indicate that the voting machines were not functioning around noon and voters were unable to vote."

The committee asked the BOE for a one-hour extension for voting until 10 p.m. at the four sites, with signage announcing the extension. The BOE had not responded to the letter as of 6:30 p.m. on Tuesday, said John Powers of the Lawyers' Committee For Civil Rights Under Law.

The BOE declined to comment to Gothamist on the letter.

Polls are open in NYC until 9 p.m. tonight - as long as you're in line by then, you will be able to vote. Find your poll site here.

Locked Doors Greeted Some Voters On Primary Day

4:30 p.m. Voting was set to commence at 6 a.m. on Primary Day, yet some New Yorkers reported issues with polling sites that were closed or not functioning until well after the official start time.

Angela Alba arrived at her polling site in Carroll Gardens early Tuesday to find locked doors and no signage. “I wanted to go as early as possible to have the best chance at social distancing,” Alba said.

Though poll workers had shown up to their post on time at 5 a.m., they were unable to access the voting machines without the supervisor, one volunteer said.

“The supervisor has the keys and the code for the machine,” said poll worker Liz Scirchev. “I had to turn away at least 20 people this morning, though I encouraged them all to come back.”

“The poll workers were just as frustrated with their supervisor,” said Alba, who, with a group of other voters, tried to call the Board of Elections and 311 to report the issue.

Determined to cast her vote after having not received a requested absentee ballot, Alba grabbed an iced coffee and returned to the site several times before the doors successfully opened at 8:20 a.m., nearly two and a half hours behind schedule.

Then her ballot was not received by the machine.

“When I tried to insert my ballot it kept rejecting the paper, like when you try to insert money into a vending machine and it keeps spitting it out,” Alba said. “The worker told me it was because I didn’t fill out the ballot right, but I knew I had. I realized that I had incorrectly been given an affidavit ballot.”

An affidavit ballot is typically used to remedy an administrative error, such as a registered voter not appearing in their voting site’s records when they arrive to vote. And in the past, many of them have gone uncounted; in 2016, for example, the city BOE tossed out roughly 90,000 affidavit ballots.

“I came in armed and ready, and knew what to look for and ask for. I do feel bad because voter suppression can really beat you down and make you think your vote doesn't matter. It would have been so much easier for me to leave and not go back and vote,” said Alba. “Not everyone is going to take three hours out of their day to vote.” She also added that not everyone has the opportunity to dedicate so much time, as she has the privilege of being able to work from home.

The Board of Elections said some poll workers traveling to voting sites in the morning may have been affected by the MTA's continued shutdown of overnight subway service during the pandemic:

Polls are open in NYC until 9 p.m. tonight. Find your poll site here.

NYC's Public Advocate Urges New Yorkers To Report Voting Issues

2:15 p.m. New York City Public Advocate Jumaane Williams reiterated on Primary Day the concerns that he had raised in a letter sent Thursday to the Board of Elections Executive Director Michael Ryan asking for the BOE to "address voting irregularities and information gaps with prospective voters."

"As you know, many of our communities, particularly communities of more color, have been ravaged by COVID-19 and will continue to deal with the impact of systemic failures and inaction for years to come," Williams wrote. "While the city is still on partial PAUSE, I want to ensure technical and administrative deficiencies do not prohibit eligible voters from safely casting their ballot. Today is the sixth day of early voting and my office has received multiple complaints about the following: No response to filed applications. Ballots with incorrect names. Delayed receipt of absentee ballot."

Williams has asked voters to send reports of any difficulties or issues to his office:

While the BOE has not returned a request for comment, the agency tweeted in response to an inquiry by former Council speaker and current Congressional candidate Melissa Mark-Viverito:

Tech issues abounded through the system. While one reportedly malfunctioning voting machine at PS 20 in Clinton Hill was rebooted successfully, other machines remained unusable:

One voter, Mary Kalemkerian, tried to cast her ballot this morning in the Lower East Side.

"I went to my polling station, which is P.S. 20 Anna Silver, which is directly across the street from my house," she said in an interview with WNYC. "As it turns out, no one from my street was in their system and we were all being told that this is not our polling station. After about 10 minutes we figured out that they were using a computer system that had not been updated or had been using a program for a different polling station."

Kalemkerian said that she was given the option to vote by affadavit but had to leave for work before she could cast a ballot, and planned to return during her lunch break.

Polls are open in NYC until 9 p.m.

NYC Primary Voters Report More Problems At The Polls

11:30 a.m. The American Civil Liberties Union wants to ensure voting irregularities are being reported throughout primary day, reminding New Yorkers they can call the Election Protection Hotline if they experience difficulties voting.

The reminder came in response to a candidate for the New York State Assembly in Brooklyn warning voters hoping to cast ballots at PS 20 in Clinton Hill that one voting machine is currently down.

Anyone wishing to make a complaint can call (866) 687-8683. They're available all day. Voters can also report problems to New York Attorney General Letitia James office at 1-800-771-7755, or [email protected].

Gothamist/WNYC continues to receive reports of voting snafus from across the city, with many voters saying they're receiving just one page of a two-page ballot that includes the presidential primary. Voters have been reporting just receiving the page containing the congressional races, or vice versa.

In some cases, voters say incorrect ballots are being given out, as Bronx Assemblymember Victor Pichardo noted when he took his family to vote in the 86th Assembly District he represents.

In other cases, the wait times are long, especially at one polling site in the South Bronx.

There have also been reports that staffers at polling sites are not allowing New York City residents to drop off their absentee ballots at their poll site, which they can do.

Voters Report Problems From The Get-Go

10: 30 a.m. Primary Day in New York commenced at 6 a.m. Tuesday and complaints of confusion and disorganization started rolling in quickly.

One immediately common complaint came from voters who reported only receiving one ballot for the presidential primary race, instead of receiving the second ballot with the local races.

“Poll workers didn't know there were 2 ballot sheets. 30 min of relentless arguing & discussion to convince them to look and find it,” said one voter in the Bronx on Twitter. “Oversight not deliberate rather disorganized. Unacceptable. Others denied a proper vote."

Anthony Smith went to vote in East Williamsburg early Tuesday and ran into issues starting before even getting into his polling site at PS 132.

He tweeted that poll workers gave contradictory information and ran into technical difficulties with the voting machines and internet access.

“So this is really strange — they’re telling people outside and inside that the machines aren’t working right now 'so nobody can vote,' but as that announcement is being made, other workers on site brought me to the one machine on site that is definitely working,” Smith tweeted.

In a subsequent interview, Smith added, “I want to say that, given the pandemic, I understand why there may have been hiccups today, and I don't want to shame the people who are risking nothing less than their lives to show up and help us vote.”

“That said, what I saw this morning was pretty disturbing — with some people working the site loudly announcing to people in the room and lined up outside that machines weren't working and votes weren't going through, and others insisting that one machine was working and that my vote would go through. It appeared that my vote was counted, but I can't say with 100% certainty which side was right in that argument.”

Adding to the confusion were last-minute polling site changes -- the Board of Elections said “Please note that due to COVID-19 there were some emergency poll site changes. A mailing was sent to all voters affected but we ask all voters to check http://nyc.pollsitelocator.com before heading to vote.”

A request for comment to the New York City Board of Elections was not immediately answered Tuesday.

Voters can report problems to New York Attorney General Leticia James office at 1-800-771-7755, or [email protected].

Polls are open today until 9 p.m. Check back later for updates to how today is going. And for information about races and candidates in your area, and your polling place, enter your address below:

With Jake Offenhartz and Megan Zerez