A Federal Judge ordered New York City Election officials to supply affidavit ballots to all Presidential race voters who claim they were wrongfully deleted from the Registration rolls.
The handwritten agreement Friday settled a lawsuit brought by Common Cause New York, hoping to give New Yorkers illegally purged from Voter Registration lists a chance to cast their ballot this Tuesday.
New York City Board of Election (BOE) poll workers “are required to offer an affidavit ballot to any individual who believes he or she is a registered voter,” the four-page deal states. “You must also advise the individual that he or she will receive notice as to the status of whether the ballot was counted.”
The lawsuit charged the City was in violation of the National Voter Registration Act of 1993.
The BOE mistakenly purged more than 100,000 Brooklyn voters from its rolls in the six months before New York’s Presidential Primaries this past April.
Many eligible voters were turned away from their usual polling place during a chaotic day for Election officials, prompting the Good Government group’s lawsuit.
The City agency agreed to go public with the Court-ordered policy via announcements in five languages on its website; over the BOE Twitter feed; and by press release to the media. Those announcements must be done by Monday under the Brooklyn Federal Court deal.
The BOE’s phone bank staff must also “provide the information to voters who inquire regarding voting when not in the Registration Poll book,” the order requires.
Mayor Bloomberg blasted the BOE after the 2012 Presidential Elections when polling places were opened late, staffed with incompetents and outfitted with broken machines.
Some voters were forced to stand in the cold for four hours to cast their ballots.
NYC Wins When Everyone Can Vote! Michael H. Drucker
No comments:
Post a Comment