Westchester Board of Elections Has Lots of Work to Do for November Vote
Too much is at stake in the next few months leading up to the Nov. 3 election. We don’t want to repeat the Westchester County Board of Elections (BOE) fiascos that happened in the June 23 primary. The BOE needs to get their act together, prepare before the voting begins by addressing the problems NOW.
The BOE needs to:
- Recruit and train poll workers, recruit and train observers, prepare mailing infrastructure and educate the voters.
- Voter registration and maintenance of poll books.
- Explain to voters the absentee ballot application and mailing process required by the BOE.
- Receipt of ballots by voters, counting and tracking of ballots and U.S. Postal Service issues.
- Consider drop-off boxes or drive-in balloting.
- The day before the election, ballot counting should begin.
Many voters were unaware of the following June 23 issues:
- BOE postcards never arrived at voter addresses.
- Incorrect polling places were given to the public.
- Polling places were not vetted early enough.
- Voter registration needs the guarantee of back-up print poll books at polling places.
- Many voters’ records had been dropped and design of the ballots was difficult to understand.
You thought your vote got counted; maybe not. It’s our responsibility to hold the BOE accountable for their mishaps and start to correct the problems ASAP. The BOE needs to know we’ve been educated and we have our eyes on them.
A new day is coming. If you, like myself, want a new government in power that has our best interests in mind, vote in the presidential election. Change can only happen if we make it happen.
Karen Sevell Greenbaum
Croton-on-Hudson
