Yorktown Town Hall Open for Voters After All on Election Day
Voters will be able to make their voices heard at Yorktown Town Hall on Election Day after all.
Last Thursday, a four-judge panel in the state Appellate Division of the Second Judicial Department reversed a previous Supreme Court justice ruling that would have relocated the polling sites for four election districts because of construction of handicapped spaces at Town Hall on Underhill Avenue.
Instead, residents in election districts 16, 17, 19 and 33 can stay put and vote between 6 a.m. and 9 p.m.
On October 24, Yorktown Town Clerk Diana Quast legally challenged a decision by the Westchester County Board of Elections to relocate the polling sites, arguing either Supervisor Michael Grace, Town Board members or Highway Superintendent Dave Paganelli had wrongly informed the county Board of Elections about construction and designating new polling places would “cause confusion” and “disenfranchise the voters affected.”
Grace and councilmen Gregory Bernard, Tom Diana and Ed Lachterman passed a resolution at a work session that supported the Board of Elections’ decision. Councilman Vishnu Patel, the lone Democrat on the board, opposed it. Grace, Bernard and Patel are all seeking reelection on November 7.
State Supreme Court Justice Larry Schwartz ruled on October 26 that Quast, who is a Democrat, “has no standing” as town clerk to challenge the Board of Elections’ change of election sites.
However, Appellate Division judges Sandra Sgroi, Sylvia Hinds-Radix, Joseph Maltese and Valerie Brathwaite Nelson saw otherwise, stating by Election Law, polling places must be designated by May 1.
“Although a Board of Elections has the discretion to designate an alternative polling place if ‘a particular polling place so designated is subsequently found to be unsuitable or unsafe or should circumstances arise that make a designated polling place unsuitable or unsafe,’ the evidence in the record indicates that the board made the determination to relocate the polling place less than three weeks before the election based only on a general advisement by an unnamed town official that construction would be performed at the Town Hall on the day of the construction,” the judges determined.
In addition, the judges concluded that Yorktown Democratic Committee Co-Chair Elliot Krowe, who filed the appeal, had “demonstrated that irreparable harm would result if the polling place were relocated, particularly at this late date.”
Earlier last week, Yorktown Republican Committee Chairman Matt Slater accused Quast of politicizing her position and suggested she resign immediately.
“How much more abuse can Yorktown’s taxpayers and voters take?” Slater stated. “She (Quast) is clearly unable to represent all of Yorktown’s residents.”
Quast did not return a phone message seeking comment on the court case or Slater’s remarks.
Rick has more than 40 years’ experience covering local news in Westchester and Putnam counties, running the gamut from politics and crime to sports and human interest. He has been an editor at Examiner Media since 2012. Read more from Rick’s editor-author bio here. Read Rick’s work here: https://www.theexaminernews.com/author/pezzullo_rick-writer/