8 THE QUEENS COURIER • APRIL 19, 2018 FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT WWW.QNS.COM
LeFrak City residents rally as battle over Queens polling site continues
BY ANGELA MATUA
amatua@qns.com / @angelamatua
LeFrak City tenants, advocates and
elected offi cials visited City Hall on
Monday to call on the Board of Elections
(BOE) to withdraw their appeal to a
court ruling that stated the agency must
restore a voting site at the Corona housing
complex.
LeFrak City, an aff ordable housing
development in Corona with 15,000
tenants, also serves as a polling site for
residents. Th e tenants, many of whom
are black, Latino and elderly, vote in
the 20-building complex’s Continental
Room.
In May 2017, the BOE moved the
polling site to the High School for Arts
and Businesses and P.S. 13, which are
three quarters and a third of a mile
away from LeFrak City, respectively.
In response to this move, Th e LeFrak
Tenants Association and other community
groups fi led a complaint in New
York Supreme Court in August 2017
against the state BOE for moving the
polling site, which has been used by residents
for 50 years.
According to the complaint, the site
was moved due to a 2010 lawsuit fi led
by Disabled in Action, a group of organizations
advocating for disabled voters.
Th e suit claimed that this site and
four others in the city did not comply
with the Americans with Disabilities
Act (ADA).
But the polling site was used for several
elections in 2015 and 2016 and the
BOE’s decision to move the site was
made aft er a September 2016 review.
“Subsequent to the issuance of the
report the Continental Room was used
for the 2016 Presidential Election,
which saw a 50 percent plus turnout;
no one complained about being unable
to vote due to the ‘problems’ fl agged by
the contractor,” the complaint read. “In
fact, those fi ndings were not relayed to
LeFrak City management so that they
could rectify the problems.”
Although LeFrak City management
contacted BOE in June 2017 saying it
would rectify any problems — and even
suggested another site on the property
for voting purposes — the BOE said the
4,500 registered voters had already been
reassigned to the two other sites.
Tenants scored a victory when the
New York State Supreme Court ruled in
October 2017 that the voting location
must be restored before the Nov. 7 primary
elections.
LeFrak City residents rallied in front of City Hall to protest the Board of Elections trying to move a polling site from the housing complex.
“Not only did the court fi nd that the
BOE’s actions were ‘irrational, arbitrary
and capricious,’ it also ordered them
to take immediate action to correct its
mistake and to fi nd additional poll sites
within LeFrak City to ensure this situation
never happens again,” said Arthur
Schwartz, an attorney representing petitioners,
aft er the court’s decision.
But tenants are now nervous that the
victory will not last long as the BOE fi led
a 46-page brief with the state Supreme
Court’s Appellate Division and claimed
that New York County Supreme Court
Justice Erika Edwards “encroached on the
Board’s authority” with her ruling.
“Th e Board of Elections has yet to
learn that its actions have dramatic consequences
for those trying to access the
franchise,” said Ethan Felder, another
attorney representing petitioners. “Th e
Board’s actions send an unmistakable
message to communities of color and
the disabled that not everyone’s right
to vote matters equally. Th is is anathema
to democracy. In the times we live in,
it is the people who are leading the way
in defending our most sacred rights and
freedoms.”
Attorneys will fi le their own amicus
brief challenging the BOE’s appeal, they
said at the rally. Malikah K Shabazz, president
of LeFrak City Tenants Association,
said that Governor Andrew Cuomo
should investigate why the BOE is adamant
about moving this polling location.
“It is my view that the governor
should conduct an investigation into
the relocation of our poll site, as well
as other poll sites around the city,” she
said. “It is the responsibility of commissioners
of the Board of Elections to
Photo courtesy of the Black Institute
insure that the voters’ rights are protected.
Suppressing votes in any way
sabotages elections.”
Several elected offi cials have thrown
their support behind the tenants,
including Congressman Joe Crowley
and state Senator Jose Peralta.
“Th e right to vote is paramount and I
stand strongly with LeFrak City tenants
as they fi ght to ensure that their longstanding
polling sites remain within the
community,” Crowley said in a statement.
“Any restriction of voting access
to communities of color, low-income
neighborhoods, senior citizens or any
eligible voters stifl es our citizens’ voices
and their right to be heard. I will not
allow that to occur in LeFrak City.”
A spokesperson for DOE did not
respond to a request for comment as of
the time this article was published.
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