A SURVEY OF CONDITIONS AT THE POLLS IN NEW YORK CITY

PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION NOVEMBER 2, 2004
A NYPIRG Report
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I. Introduction
Table 1: Survey Highlights
II. Summary of Findings
III. Detailed Findings
IV. Background
V. The Report
VI. Recommendations
Appendices
Credits
Press Release

Credits

Report from the Polls III is a product of more than 130 New Yorkers who monitored conditions at the polls and surveyed voters on November 2 nd, 2004 because of their commitment to better elections. First and foremost, we owe each of them our thanks.

The survey was developed and directed by the New York Public Interest Research Group (NYPIRG) with the help of independent expert researchers and members of the civic community. Surveyors came from a range of sources. These included: college students from campuses with NYPIRG offices; NYPIRG staff; law students with the group Just Democracy; civic organizations and civil rights groups active in election participation and education efforts; and from New Yorkers concerned about the integrity of the election process recruited through the media and internet. We'd like to specifically thank survey co-sponsors Common Cause/NY and the New York Civil Liberties Union. This report has been endorsed by: Common Cause/New York; Demos: A Network for Ideas and Action; and the Professional Staff Congress/CUNY.

Each of the participating poll monitor/surveyors was granted official 'Poll Monitor' status from the New York City Board of Elections. We thank the Board and their Executive Director John Ravitz for agreeing to place themselves under such scrutiny.

Report from the Polls III was written by NYPIRG Government Reform Coordinator Neal Rosenstein with editorial guidance from Joel Kelsey, Chair of NYPIRG's statewide Board of Directors. Training and deployment of survey monitors was directed by Joel Kelsey and Neal Rosenstein. NYPIRG's data analysis unit oversaw compilation and analysis of the survey results. Marty DeBenedictis of NYPIRG's Community Mapping Assistance Project designed the database and checked the data. Our thanks to Gary Zirpoli, Department of Biostatistics, University at Buffalo who assisted on aspects of our data analysis. Matt Benjamin and Peter Choi of Just Democracy and JoAnna Erenberg and Rachel Leon of Common Cause/NY recruited scores of volunteers. Our thanks to Professor Ron Hayduk for reviewing both the survey and report. This report and the survey form were designed by Li Howard. The report was edited by Neysa Pranger and Rebecca Weber.

W'e'd like to thank the following NYPIRG staff and volunteers for their contributions to the report: Web Design and interface: Li Howard, Devin Faraci; Election Day Coordination: Farouk Abdallah; Data Entry: Phil Urban; Printing: Earl Greaves; Lead Monitors and Survey recruiters: Toyin Ajasin, Christine Agic, Yves Antenor, Will Araujo, Brandon Arroyo, Jason Babbie, Dan Botting, Cathleen Breen, Charity Carbine, Lourdes Carrasco, Robyn Citizen, Meaghan Cleveland, Sue Craine, Suzanne Durocher, Aisha Fraites, Kate Freitag, Diana Fryda, Mike Hernandez, Jose Mane, Greg Mihailovich, Alicia Milograno, Melissa Morahan, Charlotte Nunes, Mike O'Connor, Neysa Pranger, Melissa Reburiano, Camille Rivera, Carla Sterling, Rachel Tronzano and Kay Ting. The author thanks Sabine and Freya Rosenstein for their patience and assistance while both the survey and report were undertaken. Special thanks to Joel Kelsey for his tireless work deploying surveyors and overseeing data collection and to Rebecca Weber, NYPIRG's Executive Director and Gene Russianoff, NYPIRG's Senior Attorney for their support of this effort. For more information, contact NYPIRG at (212) 349-6460.