Are elections here fairer than Florida’s?
You can be the judge!
Click here to become an election watchdog
What?
A coalition of New York City groups needs you to be an Election Day watchdog at the polls on September 11.
The groups are seeking to recruit and train hundreds of city voters to survey their own polling site. The survey will track whether city voters face the same kinds of problems that plagued Florida's presidential elections last year. All you will have to do is fill out a quick survey when you go vote in the September 11th primary. You can still help if you can't vote in the primary by staffing a voter help line operated by Common Cause/NY and the New York Public Interest Research Group (NYPIRG) in Lower Manhattan.
Why?
How well does New York City run elections? Do we do a better job than Florida?
Last Election Day, many city voters faced broken voting machines, chaotic polling sites with long lines, poorly-trained poll workers, inadequate foreign-language translations, jammed phone lines at the Board of Elections and names wrongly missing from the rolls. As a result, tens of thousands of New Yorkers had to fight hard just to exercise their right to vote; many thousands of others actually lost their votes.
More information is needed about what takes place at the polls on Election Day. The results of our survey will identify problems and needed electoral reforms.
When?
The coalition will be surveying sites on Primary Day, September 11th. The upcoming elections will be the most competitive in city history, with open seats for all citywide offices, four of the five borough-wide offices and 35 of the 51 City Council seats. The coalition will also monitor a possible run-off Election on September 25th and the General Election on November 6th.
Where?
Surveys will be filled out at your polling site when you go to vote, so it will not require a major time commitment.
How?
In order to monitor sites throughout the city, we need your help as a surveyor and in reaching out to registered voters from all over the city to be surveyors. Trainings will be held for surveyors in early September.
Who?
The non-partisan coalition consists of a wide array of civic, civil rights and community groups such as the Industrial Areas
Foundation (IAF), Professional Staff Congress (PSC), NYU Center for
Excellence in NYC Governance, New York Immigration Coalition, Common Cause/NY, NYPIRG and others. Join us. Be a part of history.
For more information and/or to sign-up, click here.
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