New York has opened an investigation into voting problems in the state’s primary Tuesday, after many voters reported snafus at the polls.
New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman announced the probe in a statement released Wednesday afternoon, saying his office’s voter hotline received more than 1,000 complaints throughout the day.
On Monday, the New York City Board of Elections said it had removed 126,000 Brooklyn Democrats from the rolls, many because the city listed them as inactive. Mayor Bill de Blasio has called for an investigation of the removals.
Numerous Brooklyn residents reported encountering problems at the polls.
The Election Protection voter hotline, run by voting rights groups, also reported numerous problems. One Brooklyn polling place didn’t open on time because the poll worker on duty didn’t have the key to a box where the ballots were kept, causing some people to leave without voting. Another Brooklyn location was closed due to “technical problems.” And many independent voters were disappointed to learn that they couldn’t vote in the Democratic or Republican primaries, which are closed to non-party members. The deadline to register with the parties was October 9, the earliest of any state in the country. Like Arizona and North Carolina, which also have witnessed voting problems this year, Brooklyn was previously covered under the Voting Rights Act, meaning it had to have changes to its elections rules approved by the federal government. But since the law was weakened by the Supreme Court in 2013, it no longer does.
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