32 THE QUEENS COURIER • OCTOBER 29, 2020 FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT WWW.QNS.COM
The Stevens family waited in line for three-and-a-half hours at the Queens College early voting site to cast their ballots.
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ANGELICA ACEVEDO, JENNA BAGCAL, KATRINA MEDOFF,
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CLIFF KASDEN, SAMANTHA SOHMER, ELIZABETH ALONI
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Photo by Dean Moses
Story: City honors Kew Gardens social worker as
Mental Health Hero for supporting New Yorkers
during COVID-19 pandemic
Summary: Orkideh Yazhari, a member of the Mental
Health Service Corps at NYC Health + Hospitals/
Queens in Jamaica, was honored as a “Mental
Health Hero” by the Mayor’s Offi ce of ThriveNYC.
Reach: 3,225 (as of 10/19/20)
editorial
Get out
and vote!
Th e weekend saw a beautiful demonstration
of democracy in action and power in
New York City, with tens of thousands participating
in the fi rst two days of early voting
in the 2020 election. Th e trend continued
throughout the week, with thousands
more casting their ballots.
Early voting lines ran for blocks in
Queens and throughout New York City as
voters of diff erent ages, colors and creeds
patiently waited in line for multiple hours
to make their voices heard in the allimportant
election. Th is is music to our
ears!
New York City — and New York state in
general — historically has seen low voter
turnout, even in presidential elections.
Turnout was still low for the primaries in
June, although the COVID-19 pandemic
may have played a role in that.
Th is week has shown us that we seem to
be bucking the trend. People realize how
important this election is, even as we continue
to navigate through the pandemic.
Th ose who went to the polls had to exercise
plenty of caution — including wearing
masks and practicing social distancing.
Workers at each polling site took great
pains to keep everything safe for those
exercising their right to vote free of possible
COVID-19 infection. We applaud
their eff ort.
And while the absentee ballot deadline
has come and gone, there is still time to
cast your ballot early — early voting runs
until Sunday, Nov. 1, ahead of regular inperson
voting on Election Day, Nov. 3.
Aside from the presidential election,
there are several races in Queens
to vote for. Voters can cast their ballot
for state Assembly, state Senate and
Congressional races. Be sure to check
our voter guide in this paper or on QNS.
com for a full breakdown of all the races.
Voters can also visit www.vote.nyc to fi nd
their polling sites.
Th e city’s Board of Elections released
some early voting numbers which show
that Brooklyn and Manhattan are leading
the way in voter turnout. Queens ranks
third, followed by the Bronx and Staten
Island.
We cannot stress to residents of the
“World’s Borough” how important it is to
vote and encourage everyone who is registered
to head out to the polls and cast
your ballot in the national and borough
elections.
Do your part. Our future depends on it.
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