No lines, long lines and party lines: Queens
voters cast their ballots on Election Day
Mayor Bill de Blasio visits J.H.S. 226 in South Ozone Park. Photo by Dean Moses
BY JACOB KAYE AND DEAN MOSES
Some polling places across Queens
Tuesday morning appeared to be in
strong contrast to the lines seen throughout
the nine days of early voting.
At P.S. 150 in Sunnyside, there wasn’t
much of a wait to cast a ballot. With a
small line forming occasionally outside,
voters assigned to the polling place
made their way in and out with little
time wasted.
One resident said she had attempted
to vote during the early voting period
but was deterred by the long lines and
gloomy weather.
“I went to the early voting at LaGuardia
Community College, the line was
horrendous, it was raining, so I stood
there like an hour and I said, you know
what, this is better for me,” said Carmen
Giocuria, who was casting her vote
in person on Tuesday. “I live across the
street. I changed my mind. I thought I
would hit two birds with one stone when
I went to the gym and then to go vote, but
the line was horrendous last Tuesday.”
It took Giocuria 10 minutes to cast
her vote on Nov. 3.
Just down the block, at Queen of Angel’s
Parish Center in Sunnyside, the
lines were a little longer.
Voters waited up to 40 minutes to
cast their ballots, including Clara Demedinaceli,
TIMESLEDGER | QNS.10 COM | NOV. 6-NOV. 12, 2020
who brought a chair to the
polling site.
“I did get the mail-in ballot. I didn’t
send it in though,” Demedinaceli said. “I
looked up my early polling site, but the
lines were so long that I couldn’t stay, so
I decided to come today and brought a
chair. Just in case. The line wasn’t long
because it moved fast.”
Ian Rees, a voter in Forest Hills, was
in and out of his polling site at P.S.196 in
minutes.
“I left my apartment at 11:30 a.m. and
was back home right around noon,” Rees
said, adding that he was glad to both vote
in what he feels is an important election
and to have gotten a new sticker for his
laptop.
In Astoria, voter Maria Victoria Salazar
found that her polling site at P.S. 166,
where she has voted for the past 10 years,
was quieter than past elections.
“Last presidential election, I waited
on line for about 30 mins or so,” Salazar
said. “This time, there was no line at all
and it took me perhaps two minutes to
get my ballot and another three minutes
or so to vote and put my ballot through
the machine.”
In addition to the presidential race,
the Queens borough president race and
a slew of other local races, the future of
the Working Families Party is also on
the ballot this year.
A new state law requires independent
parties receive 2 percent of the vote
in order to have a ballot line in the following
election.
Councilman Jimmy Van Bramer,
who voted early, was at Queen of Angel’s
Parish Center to encourage his neighbors
to vote on the Working Families
Party line.
“It’s incredibly important, not only
for people to vote, but as you know, we
are out here encouraging people to vote
on the Working Families Party line
because this is an area that will overwhelmingly
support Biden over Trump,”
Van Bramer said. “The Working Families
Party is the progressive party in
New York state and they need to collect
a certain amount of votes on this line,
so it is really important because many
of the voters on the line are Democrats
and progressives and will want to both
vote Biden/Harris but also support the
Working Families Party line.”
Voter Julia Forman agreed with the
councilman.
“For me it’s important to be out for
the Working Families Party. It’s the line
that I’ve always voted on because I know
it sends that message up to Albany that
we need to keep fighting for the policies
that actually matter to people,” Forman
said. “If I’m going to be out for anyone,
obviously I’m out for Biden, but I want it
to be under Working Families Party.”
The mayor comes to Queens
Mayor Bill de Blasio stopped by a
South Ozone Park polling site Tuesday
afternoon to meet voters and poll workers.
Handing out donuts, de Blasio said
the polling site at J.H.S. 266 was a shining
example for the rest of the city.
“This is a good example, what we are
seeing here at this poll site. A lot of energy,
a lot of activity,” hizzoner said. “It’s
also further proof that early voting, just
as we hoped, has taken a lot of pressure
off Election Day. It’s made Election Day
go more smoothly. This is really good
to see, even though we know there is an
evening rush coming. What we are seeing
today is very, very encouraging.”
The mayor also took time to remind
voters that as long as they are in line by
9 p.m., when the polls close, they can still
cast their ballots.
“Anyone in line, they have to accommodate,
if you are in line by 9 p.m. no
matter how long it goes,” he said.