URGENT: Majority of New York Polling Places Don't Open Until Noon! Sanders Supporters Need to Know

[leftcoastmountains]

Last edited Thu Apr 14, 2016, 05:41 PM - Edit history (1)

ASAP if they Are Affected.

Please share the following link and tweet it out. Our voting rights are being suppressed and most people in NY State have no idea they will not be able to cast their ballots until Noon. I called one of Sanders' Regional Press Secretaries, and he didn't have this information and no one is publicizing it here in New York that I know of.

Yesterday, by pure happenstance, while checking to see that my county had not changed my registration information from Democrat to Independent (yeah, since Arizona I've been paranoid about such stuff) I discovered something that shocked me. The polls where I live will only be open from 12 Noon until 9 PM, making it difficult for many people who work swing shifts to vote.

I checked today to see if this was a statewide phenomenon, or limited to the cheapskates on my own local Board of Elections. Imagine my surprise when I discovered that outside of New York City and the counties of Nassau, Suffolk, Westchester, Rockland, Orange, Putnam and Erie, where the polls will open at 6 o’clock in the morning, every other county in New York does not open for voting until Noon. Nassau, Suffolk, Westchester, Rockland, Orange, and Putnam counties are all essentially suburbs of New York City. Erie County, which includes Buffalo, is the only outlier in the bunch.

That means the voters in every other county in New York state will lose those six critical morning hours in which to cast their ballots. If you think this doesn't matter, think again. Many poor and lower middle class folks work swing shifts, which will make it much more difficult for them to vote in this election. If you think that seems unwarranted and unfair, and smacks of potential voter suppression, well join the crowd.

https://www.reddit.com/r/SandersForPresident/comments/4esx70/urgent_majority_of_new_york_polling_places_dont/

Gotta say the more I read about how difficult it is to vote in other states, the more I realize how easy I have it in California.
Anyone can vote absentee, no questions asked. There's early voting. I believe voting starts in the morning hours on election day. And we have primaries where if you are "no party preference" you can vote Democratic. I would prefer totally open primaries but can't beat this with a stick.

[chknltl]

1. KnR nt

[appalachiablue]

2. Wisconsin has been creating suppression rules and measures for several years

too as reported in this Nation article just before the recent WI election. There, polling places' weekend & evening hours were almost entirely eliminated, DMV openings reduced to 2-3 days a week for persons needing new DL or documents.

AND even though Wisconsin state received $$ for election education, it disappeared. So many people were uniformed and disenfranchised. Arizona, and other places- it's appalling. Who's minding our democracy these days???

http://www.democraticunderground.com/1280165819

[ViseGrip]

3. KICK to vote! Go vote. Go to work late. be late back from lunch, tell them YOU ARE VOTING!

[azmom]

4. Most states allow employees to take time off to vote.

Found this online. Employers are mandated to post a notice 10 days before every election.

http://www.elections.ny.gov/NYSBOE/elections/AttentionEmployees.pdf

[leftcoastmountains]

6. Who knows how much time it will take this time around?

People standing in line everywhere for long periods! I know people in certain
states are beaten down, but New York! Surely you can demand a change in your
voting rules! There's absolutely no reason for this crap!

[azmom]

8. Tell me about it. We were fucking robbed

in AZ. People were still voting after midnight.

[leftcoastmountains]

9. Yeah but Arizona is kind of known

for it's right wing attitudes. I don't know why right wing
equals quashing of individual rights but they certainly seem to go
hand in hand!

[Karma13612]

12. good try.

even our Democrats in Albany are really DINO's.

No one wants to make it better.

And it is really voter disenfranchisement.

[LiberalArkie]

5. Elections were never for the working people to vote. This is really something new. In the south

generally the business people voted. No one else could get time off. If there was a wood yard or a plant then the "man" would pay the poll tax and load up the workers on a truck and give them a piece of paper showing who they were to vote for. Most of the voting laws are still geared for those hours and conditions.

[leftcoastmountains]

7. Ha! Time to change it up!

I have always thought of New York as a progressive state. Maybe it's
just NYC. (Love NYC by the way, great place)

[LiberalArkie]

10. I loved it when I was there in 69 & 70. Loved Washington Sq and the Village. Even subscribed to

the Voice back then. I guess mine was the only subscription they had going to Arkansas. I always wanted to win the lottery so that I could move back. I even attended the very first Earth day in NYC. Got free tickets and a ride to Woodstock, but had the work the weekend. A lot of fond memories for a very short time.

[LiberalElite]

17. The Voice is a shell of its former self now

and so is the gentrified Village.

[Karma13612]

11. Well, stay tuned and be ready

to be the tie breaker cause it just might come down to you!!

Every vote counts, and with your state being near the end, it means you can capitalize on the Bernimentum, and the fact that it is 'open', etc.

I am voting for Bernie this coming week in NY and am really excited.
I live in a rural area so I am going to be OK regardless of when I can get in.

There will probably be no line and for that I am grateful.

I can vote, and then come home and watch the returns.

[greymouse]

13. word from the ny website

http://www.elections.ny.gov/FAQ.html

Primary Elections
In New York City and the counties of Nassau, Suffolk, Westchester, Rockland, Orange, Putnam and Erie, POLLS OPEN AT 6 AM - CLOSE AT 9 PM. In all other counties, POLLS OPEN AT 12 NOON and CLOSE AT 9 PM.

General Election
POLLS OPEN AT 6 AM - CLOSE AT 9 PM

That's plain crazy.

I wonder if NYers know this, however. I would imagine repeat voters are used to this. But not our new ones.

[dana_b]

14. right?! I live in California too and

I'm so happy that Jim Crow is not a real factor here.

I wish that voting days were paid holidays or at least partial paid holidays (like 4 hours that day) to make it easier for everyone to vote.

[Donkees]

15. Sparsely populated areas in NY don't have as many registered voters

[hedda_foil]

16. Sounds like the Bernie team needs to jump on this immediately.

[Sandersdemocrat2020]

18. Thanks

Thanks for posting this. It is a little unsettling. In the future, we need to change the election process to simplify it, I think. The state to state differences are perplexing and byzantine in many cases. It seems like a cumbersome system. Anyway, nothing can be changed until the election is over. I will let my friends know about this (I am in Upstate New York). Thanks again.

[mhatrw]

19. WHO THE FUCK DECIDED THIS CRAP?

What the fuck is the rationale behind polls not opening until noon? I've never heard of this before.

[Donkees]

20. Sparsely populated areas don't have as many registered voters

[TBF]

21. That is no excuse for suppressing the vote-

This is the thing that will start the revolution if the owners aren't careful. If people realize their freedoms are being taken away and they are being screwed financially there is very little to stop them from revolting.

[Donkees]

22. Population per square mile:

[mhatrw]

23. I still don't get it. These people already have to drive pretty far to find a polling place.

Why can't it open at 7 or 8 AM?

[Donkees]

24. Maybe they're busy milking 200 cows :)

[TBF]

25. That doesn't help. What if they are shift workers?

Anytime you make it harder for people to vote you are getting into the sabotage/suppression area. And if we think it's bad now just wait until this fall. The only ones propping up these kind of proposals are republicans because they are the ones that benefit from low turnout.

[Little_Wing]

26. Kicking

WTF?