New York, NY – Voters in New York State use a vote-scanning system that can tally votes swiftly and, in most cases, correctly. Not New York City. The city’s Board of Elections uses a creaky system of counting by hand that is prone to embarrassing errors on election night.
Subscribe to our Daily Roundup Email
On June 26, the board announced that Representative Charles Rangel had won the Democratic primary in his newly drawn district by 1,900 votes. But, in 79 of 506 precincts, the vote count was recorded as zero. Then the board recounted, and Mr. Rangel led his nearest competitor, State Senator Adriano Espaillat, by 802 votes — with 2,000 absentee ballots or affidavits still to be counted.
Everywhere else in the state, workers remove flashdrives from the machines that scan ballots and take them to a central computer for counting. (Paper receipts produced by the machines are saved for recounts.) But New York City’s patrontage-addled Board of Elections and its staff seem more interested in protecting their jobs than avoiding errors. Poll workers add the district votes, write the totals on a sheet and give the sheet and the flashdrive to a police officer, who takes it to the central police station. There, the numbers are typed into computers for a final “unofficial tally.” A few days later, the computer’s tally becomes available.
My friend tells me that they let him vote as many times he wants on primary days.