Mayor Bill de Blasio casting his vote in Park Slope on Election Day.
Michael Appleton/Mayoral Photography Offi ce
BY ARIEL PACHECO
While the New York City Primary Election is technically
over, the offi cial results won’t be in until at
least July 12, according to the Board of Elections.
The initial preliminary unoffi cial results were
made available on Election Night, June 22, but only
include ballots cast during early voting and on election
day. Absentee ballots were not a part of the initial
tally.
The introduction of ranked-choice voting has created
a new wrinkle when it comes to the timeline.
Only voters’ fi rst-choice will be counted immediately.
BOE plans to count the rest of the votes on June 29, but
those will also only include early voting and election
day ballots.
Until then, the Campaign Finance Board is preaching
patience.
“With Ranked Choice Voting, we will be getting our
results from the Board of Elections in a new way,” said
CFB Spokesperson Matthew Sollars. “This will take
cooperation from everyone involved, including the
media and candidates, to respect the counting process
and to accurately refl ect the unoffi cial nature of vote
tallies until the BOE declares an offi cial winner.”
They also plan to release updates on the absentee
ballots one week after that on July 6. Complete results
should be available by July 12, per BOE, but there is
no set date. An offi cial result will be made when every
vote is counted.
“Right now, we’re at a little over 80,000 absentee
ballots,” said BOE Spokesperson Valerie Vazquez on
Monday night.
COURIER LIFE, JUNE 25-JULY 1, 2021 5
who arrived at her polling
place, PS/IS 180 in Borough
Park, at 6:45 am — almost an
hour after sites were supposed
to open — only to be told to
come back in 15-30 minutes.
At John Ericsson Middle
School near the border of Williamsburg
and Greenpoint,
polls didn’t open to the public
until after 8:30 am.
“This needs to be solved
now!!” tweeted local Democratic
District Leader Kristina
Naplatarski, who is also
the communications director
for borough president candidate
Antonio Reynoso. “Voters
are actively being disenfranchised.”
According to District
Leader Jesse Pierce, all
standby poll workers were dispatched
by 8 pm — but the local
politico argued that the Board
of Elections could have taken
action much sooner to prevent
delays.
“BOE could have fl agged
understaffi ng weeks ago,”
Pierce tweeted, alleging that
many poll workers assigned
to sites had not taken the required
refresher training and
never confi rmed availability
ahead of Tuesday’s primary
elections. “The alarm could’ve
been raised. Instead, scramble.”
A ‘disheartening’ lack of
translators
Some sites across the borough
are reporting a lack of
adequate voter translation services.
One pol fl agged Brooklyn
Paper to a lack of such services
in his southern Brooklyn district,
which is home to a large
Russian-speaking population.
“I remain very frustrated
and disappointed that we don’t
have more translation services,”
said Councilmember
Mark Treyger, who represents
Coney Island, Brighton Beach
and Seagate.
The defi cit was evident
Tuesday morning, he said, at
the Haber Houses in Coney
Island, where the usual polling
site was moved around the
corner, leaving non-English
speaking voters without translators
in the dark.
“We don’t have any Russian
interpreters by Haber Houses,”
he said. “They moved it around
the corner, and that requires
translation so people know
where to vote. It is very disappointing
and disheartening.”
Electioneering, staffi ng
shortages and low supply
At Brooklyn Borough Hall,
a six-foot-tall poster of sitting
Borough President and mayoral
candidate Eric Adams was
removed by BOE workers after
voters alleged the hopeful
had a “home court advantage.”
Similar complaints have been
lodged about a box truck boasting
an Adams campaign ad
idling within 100 feet of a polling
site on Newkirk Avenue.
In Sunset Park, District
Leader Julio Peña alleged that
candidates were “walking
into poll sites and introducing
themselves to poll workers as
being on the ballot.”
Speaking to Brooklyn Paper,
he further alleged that sites in
his district experienced a poll
worker shortage. “Every poll
site that I have gone to in my
district so far is down at least
half their staff,” he said, adding
that community members
were asked to recruit voters to
work the booths, and use their
own chargers to get BOE iPads
up and running for check-in. “I
don’t understand how this is
how we are running our elections.”
Voters largely unfazed by
RCV
Outside PS 29 in Cobble
Hill, voter Nick Farrone told
Brooklyn Paper he thought the
new ranked voting system was
“pretty straightforward.
Across the borough, a Sheepshead
Bay voter named Mario
told Brooklyn Paper that while
he understood ranked-choice
voting, he hoped the new system
wouldn’t stump others. “I
hope it doesn’t get people confused,”
he said.
Mario — like Mayor Bill
de Blasio — kept his vote under
wraps, but said he placed
an emphasis on police reform
when making his pick.
At Brooklyn Tech, fi rsttime
voter Yogesh Pilawal told
Brooklyn Paper he was pleasantly
surprised by the smooth
process of casting a ballot.
“Is it usually hard?” he
asked.
Outside Pilawal’s polling
site, construction worker Jeff
Simmons said he was grateful
he’d opted for an absentee ballot.
“I wouldn’t want to be the
person just walking in here
blind and trying to fi gure it
out, because they could just be
guessing,” he said.
Hizzoner hits the polls in
Park Slope
De Blasio cast his ballot
midday on June 22 at the Park
Slope Public Library, not too
far away from his personal residence.
Like any other voter, he
fi lled out his scannable paper
ballot, most likely utilizing the
ranked-choice voting system
to choose whom he’d like to
succeed him, then fraternized
with some children waiting
outside the library, even signing
autographs.
De Blasio took to Twitter
to show that he fulfi lled his
Constitutional right and his
goodwill gesture with young
Brooklynites. But as to his ballot
choices, he made clear that
would remain a secret.
“Who am I voting for? The
people of New York City,” he
tweeted. (Maybe he wrote in
“green peppers.”)
Additional reporting by
Ben Brachfeld, Paul Frangipane,
Jessica Parks and Ben
Verde
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