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Pressure Builds On NYC Cultural Institutions To Offer Space For Poll Sites, After Two Arenas Volunteer
By
Brigid Bergin
Published Sep 9, 2020
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By
Brigid Bergin
Published Sep 9, 2020
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As the city prepares to hold a presidential election during an ongoing pandemic, election officials are more concerned than ever about crowding at poll sites. The New York City Board of Elections is currently searching for more early-voting sites across the city, as some lawmakers shame big-name institutions to step up and open their doors to voters.
At issue are the poll sites where voters can cast their ballot in person nine days ahead of Election Day, from October 24th through November 1st. In addition, the state massively expanded its absentee ballot program. But where to house these early sites became an issue last fall, the first time New Yorkers could vote early in a general election. After city officials said they would avoid using public schools, the hunt was on for alternative locations.
Now a group of Manhattan elected officials and candidates running to be the next borough president joined with the civics advocacy group Common Cause to demand the city’s top cultural institutions offer space to voters.
"Cultural institutions are part of the fabric of our city's past, present, and future, and it makes perfect sense that the Board of Elections should work with them to play a significant role in our democracy," said Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer. "I call on our museums, concert halls, theaters, and other venues who have the capacity and are accessible to help set the stage for a safe election process for their neighborhoods."
The coalition cited a report from Gothamist / WNYC that found dozens of the city’s largest cultural institutions who collectively receive more than $580 million in tax benefits rejected requests from the New York City Board of Elections last year to serve as poll sites, saying that it would interfere with their normal operations and pose burdensome logistical challenges.
State Senator Liz Krueger, also part of the coalition, has applied pressure by sponsoring legislation that explicitly removes early voting from public schools and requires any public building that receives a tax exemption or more than $1 million in grant funds to serve as a poll site. That bill passed the Senate last year.
Pressure is mounting on places like the Metropolitan Museum of Art and Lincoln Center to provide venues for voting. They rejected a request made last year by the NYCBOE. At the time, the Met Museum said it would be “an extreme hardship” if voters were allowed to cast ballots at that location.
“In the spring, before the pandemic, we were working with the Board of Elections to be an early polling site, yet, unfortunately, our closure upended that project," said Met Museum spokesperson Ken Weine. "We are already talking to the Board of Elections about next year’s municipal elections."
Lincoln Center spokesperson Isabel Sinistore said, "For the first time in our history, we served as a polling site for the primary election this past June. Afterwards, we immediately began looking into how we could serve as a polling site for the general election. We plan to be a polling site in November and are looking forward to serving our community again in this way."
But it remains to be seen if Lincoln Center will also serve as an early voting site, which would start in October.
So far, it’s the city’s sports arenas that are taking the lead on a civic engagement scale.
Madison Square Garden announced last month that it would open its doors to voters for nine days of early voting and on Election Day, a move that coincided with demands made by the NBA players union to resume playoff games suspended in protest over a police shooting. Less than a week later, the Barclays Center followed suit. Together these venues will serve nearly 100,000 voters in Brooklyn and Manhattan.
Still, the city needs dozens more early voting sites to accommodate the more than 2 million voters expected to turnout for the general election.
"We're glad to see Barclays Center and Madison Square Garden step up to become poll sites, but other cultural institutions need to do their civic duty too,” said Susan Lerner, executive director of Common Cause/NY. She also noted that many of the cultural institutions that receive public support and tax benefits are either empty or operating at reduced capacity.
A spokesperson for the NYC BOE said the city was always looking for more partners and more space.
“Having accessible and conveniently located poll sites is of paramount importance to the Board,” said Valerie Vazquez, NYC BOE communications director. She added, “We are constantly in search of more early voting and poll sites across the city make it easier for New Yorkers to vote in this upcoming election and future elections.”
Tagged
democracy
early voting
election 2020
Brigid Bergin
Brigid Bergin is an award-winning senior reporter on the People and Power desk. She is fiercely committed to telling stories that help people engage and support democracy. In 2022, she hosted a live, ten-week call-in politics show ahead of the midterm elections called The People's Guide to Power. Brigid's reporting in 2017 included some of the first coverage of a political newcomer now known as AOC. In 2016, she broke the news of a voter purge in Brooklyn just days before New York’s presidential primary, triggering city, state and federal investigations. Brigid also guest hosts The Brian Lehrer Show and All Of It. She graduated from the University at Albany and the CUNY Newmark School of Journalism. Got a tip? Email [email protected] or Signal 917-723-4719.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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