8 THE QUEENS COURIER • NOVEMBER 5, 2020 FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT WWW.QNS.COM
Election 2020
Early results are in after Election Day
Richards holds early lead in
Queens borough president race
BY JACOB KAYE
jkaye@schnepsmedia.com
@QNS
While the borough may not
know defi nitively who the next
Queens borough president is
for days or weeks, Councilman
Donovan Richards holds an
early lead in the race.
Richards, a Democrat from
southeast Queens, received
more than 67 percent of the
vote, or about 380,449 votes
as of Wednesday morning,
Nov. 4, with around 96 percent
of scanners reported. His
Republican opponent, Joann
Ariola, had 173,056 votes and
third party candidate Dao Yin
held 11,696 votes.
Th e fi nal count likely won’t
be known for at least a week, as
absentee ballots won’t be tallied
until the following week.
The city councilman
declared victory during his
election party at Pa-Nash
Eurosoul, a restaurant in
Rosedale.
“This election was all
about who we are as a borough,”
Richards said. “While
there were those who sought
to divide us, those who said,
‘Let’s build walls’ in Queens,
here in Queens County, we
let them know that we build
bridges.”
Richards also spoke about
the challenges the borough
currently faces and will likely
face in the future, many
of which were caused by
COVID-19.
“As unemployment soars,
support for food pantries
and small businesses will be
essential to ensuring no one
in the borough goes hungry,”
Richards said. “We have a lot
of work to do and I look forward
to getting to work.”
Richards, a popular politician
in a safely Democrat borough,
was largely expected to
perform well in the Queens
borough president’s race.
Th e city councilman beat out
four challengers during June’s
Democratic primary for the
seat, receiving a little more
than 65,000 votes, or about
33 percent of the vote. Former
Councilwoman Elizabeth
Crowley fi nished second in
the race with approximately
52,000 votes.
Ariola, who serves as the
chairwoman of the Queens
County Republican Party, centered
her campaign around
an anti-crime sentiment. She
announced her bid for the seat
in April, aft er the Republican
primary for the seat had been
canceled due to COVID-19.
Th e Queens borough president
race has seen a fair share
of twists and turns aft er the
seat was vacated when former
Borough President Melinda
Katz was elected to Queens district
attorney in 2019. A nonpartisan
special election to
replace Katz was scheduled to
take place on March 24, but was
canceled as the COVID-19 crisis
began to take hold of the city.
Acting Queens Borough
President Sharon Lee has been
serving since Katz vacated the
offi ce in January.
Queens will head to the
polls and vote again for borough
president in 2021, when
Katz’s term was originally set
to end.
No lines, long lines and party lines:
Queens voters cast their ballots
BY JACOB KAYE
AND DEAN MOSES
editorial@qns.com
@QNS
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, 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. Th e
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. “Th is 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. “Th e 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
P a r t y
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 fi ghting 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 aft ernoon 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.
“Th is 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.
Th is is really good to see, even
though we know there is an evening
rush coming. What we are
seeing today is very, very encouraging.”
Th e 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.
QNS fi le photo
Joann Ariola is trailing Richards
with 30 percent of the vote as of
Wednesday morning.
QNS fi le photo
Councilman Donovan Richards has
a comfortable lead over GOP candidate
Joann Ariola.
Mayor Bill de Blasio
visits J.H.S. 226
in South
Ozone
Park.
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