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Serbians forced to wait hours to vote at NYC consulate as Balkan nation holds election
By
Jill Webb
and
Michael Sol Warren
Published Oct 25, 2026 at 2:57 p.m. ET
Modified Oct 25, 2026 at 4:59 p.m. ET
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Jill Webb / Gothamist
By
Jill Webb
and
Michael Sol Warren
Published Oct 25, 2026 at 2:57 p.m. ET
Modified Oct 25, 2026 at 4:59 p.m. ET
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Serbian immigrants in New York City and across the Northeast lined up down a Midtown block on Sunday to vote in a critical parliamentary election for the Balkan nation.
But they did so in unique circumstances.
Polls at the consulate, three blocks north of Bryant Park, opened at 2 a.m. and were set to close at 3 p.m. The line stretched down West 45th Street and dozens of people waited about two hours to vote.
The window matched Serbia's local voting hours. It’s unclear why officials didn't make accommodations to make voting more convenient for Serbian citizens in America.
The Serbian government called a snap election last month before former President Aleksandar Vučić resigned. Vučić, whose party has been in power since 2012, had sought to return as prime minister but conceded defeat Sunday, according to the Associated Press.
He faced a student-led opposition movement that campaigned against corruption. The movement emerged after a canopy at a train station in Serbia collapsed and killed 16 people.
The Serbian government has set up only a handful of polling stations across North America. Other cities include Washington, D.C., which had the same hours as the New York consulate, and Chicago, where voting ran from 1 a.m. to 2 p.m. local time.
The BBC reported long lines to vote in Serbia and at the country's consulates in Slovenia, Germany, Los Angeles and Paris.
Voters in line in Midtown criticized the Serbian government for imposing such narrow voting hours.
"They tried to get us back from voting, but they did a really poor job,” said Milos Lazic, who lives upstate in Utica and drove down to the city to vote. “They just made people more mad about it. That's why you're seeing such long lines here."
Jill Webb / Gothamist
A staffer at the New York consulate told Gothamist they could not answer questions without authorization from Belgrade. Serbia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Just after noon, the line outside the consulate stretched half a block towards Fifth Avenue. Serbian media reported that hundreds of people were waiting for the consulate to open at 2 a.m.
Dusan Boric, who has lived in the city for about 20 years, said the Serbian government failed to deter overseas voters.
“ It could have been arranged differently, but I think still we are able to do it,” Boric said. “This long line actually shows that it's not a huge deal for anyone here.”
The website VoteBnB, which launched this year to help Serbians living abroad arrange voting, showed 59 people in New York City offering places to stay for voters traveling to the polls.
Stefan Bogner, a Jersey City resident, said he’d gotten in line just before 11 a.m. and had been waiting to vote for about two hours. Bogner said he was glad to see a strong turnout at the New York consulate.
“ It's really wonderful to see so many people coming from so far away,” Bogner said. “It just goes to show how motivated people feel and how united they feel.”
Marija Vukojevac, who lives in Brooklyn, said it was her first time voting abroad. She said regardless of the election’s outcome, she was just glad to see so many people show up to vote.
“ They have the right to vote, and for a very long time, people did not express it,” Vukojevac said. “So I'm quite happy that people are expressing it.”
This story has been updated with new information.
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Jill Webb
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Michael Sol Warren
Michael Sol Warren covers New Jersey for WNYC and Gothamist, and previously reported on issues around the Garden State for NJ Spotlight News and NJ Advance Media. He can be reached at [email protected].
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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