New York City’s Board of Elections will undergo an audit after a city authority said there were “irregularities” at polling locations throughout the city as members of both parties tried to vote Tuesday in the state’s primary, Reuters reported.
New York City Comptroller Scott Stringer pointed to a “deep concern over widespread reports of poll site problems and irregularities” as he called for the audit, according to the report. Stringer said his office had heard reports of polling locations failing to open on time and a report of a broken machine in Queens. He also said there was conflicting voter information distributed.
“There is nothing more sacred in our nation than the right to vote, yet election after election, reports come in of people who were inexplicably purged from the polls, told to vote at the wrong location or unable to get into their polling site,” Stringer said, as quoted by Reuters.
Mayor Bill de Blasio said in a statement that his office heard reports that voting lists from Brooklyn contained “numerous errors” and asked the city’s Board of Elections to give updated information.
“We support the Comptroller’s audit and urge its completion well in advance of the June elections so corrective action can be taken. These errors today indicate that additional major reforms will be needed to the Board of Election and in the state law governing it,” de Blasio said in the statement. “We will hold the BOE commissioners responsible for ensuring that the Board and its borough officers properly conduct the election process to assure that voters are not disenfranchised. The perception that numerous voters may have been disenfranchised undermines the integrity of the entire electoral process and must be fixed.”
Polls close at 9 p.m. ET in the Empire State.
