New York State expects to be neglected with up to 5 million mail-in votes in the November general election amid the coronavirus pandemic, four times more than the 1.2 million received in the primary June 23, said the state’s official election.
“That will result in a slower count,” state election commissioner Peter Kosinski said during a virtual joint hearing of the House of Representatives.
“I do not think it is realistic to think that you have a faster count in November,” he added after saying he expected about 5 million post-votes.
It took the New York City Board of Elections about six weeks to certify the count for the primary election, which expired in early August.
A slower turnout could shake election officials to have the election results for presidential race certified by Dec. 3. And submitted to Electoral College on Dec. 14th.
As of now, election officials say they do not have the extra resources or manpower to count so many votes on time.
That could spell trouble especially in New York City, where the tardy processing and processing of thousands of requests and ballots during the primary resulted in a federal lawsuit that forced a refund of disputed votes.
During a joint Senate hearing, lawmakers asked New York City Board of Elections executive director Michael Ryan about the primary ballot box and asked whether the agency would be better prepared for a wave of post-in votes for the presidential election.
“People did not get the votes on time, so they could vote in the primary,” said First Chamber member Michael Gianaris (D-Queens).
“For many New Yorkers, voting was functional. But too many New Yorkers saw that democracy failed them during this pandemic. Thousands of ballots were fired, ”said Speaker Zellnor Myrie (D-Brooklyn).
Ryan acknowledged that he had issues with staff members that needed to be resolved.
He said the city was still under a lockdown in early June and had to “negotiate” with the union representing 600 staff to work back to prepare for the primary elections, while adhering to social distance and other COVID- 19 safety rules.
He also passed the dollar to the Postal Service, saying ballot papers were sent in time to count.
“We cannot speak for the actions of the Post Office. We do not deliver them to voters’ homes. We deliver them to the Post Office, ”Ryan said.
He said the problems with moods that were not properly postmarked or arrived too late were centered in Brooklyn, while the handling of moods went more smoothly in the rest of the city.
Ryan reported that 23 percent of the post-in ballot papers were disqualified, many for not including a voter signature. This is comparable to the invalidity rate of 21 percent if there is no pandemic.
The difference, he said, is that many more people voted by absent vote during the COVID-19 crisis after Gov. Andrew Cuomo signed an executive order making it easier to do so.
A Post-analysis of BOE data from the city revealed that 84,000 post-in ballots for the Democratic presidential primary were not counted.
Meanwhile, a State Board of Elections official said the city BOE should do a better job of enforcing rules at the polling stations in a presidential election year.
“New York City has never been able to follow the 30-minute waiting rule. That’s because the turnout in the presidential election is so much greater. We saw a lot of interviews with waiting times of three hours, “said BOE Co-Chair Doug Kellner.
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