Lawmaker Says Board of Elections Is 'Willfully Ignoring the Law'

The way the city Board of Elections changed the location of hundreds of poll sites for Tuesday's primary may not have just caused confusion for voters. It may have violated the law.

WNYC reported Monday the board has moved poll sites for more than 200,000 eligible primary voters since last November's elections to make them accessible to disabled voters and for other reasons.

Board officials told WNYC they would only post signs at former locations if they had changed poll sites after sending their annual August mailer to voters. But in 2016, the City Council passed a law that required the elections board to post signs at the old locations used over the preceding four years whenever they moved voting sites.

Councilman Dan Garodnick, who sponsored the legislation, blasted the board for “willfully ignoring” the law.

“It looks like the Board of Elections is doing what they do best — making life challenging and difficult for New Yorkers for no reason,” Garodnick, a Democrat from Manhattan's East Side, told WNYC.

He said he planned to follow up with the board after the primary and may pursue further action.

Asked about the law, a spokeswoman for the elections board referred WNYC to the testimony executive director Michael Ryan gave at a City Council hearing before the law was passed. He said that the City Council cannot tell them what they do, since the board derives its power from state election law and the state constitution.