Sometimes It’s Hard To Vote In A Republican Primary

On Tuesday, The New York Post reported the following:

At least three Big Apple election sites told voters they didn’t have Republican ballots for New York’s primary race Tuesday, as thousands headed to the polls to cast their vote for governor, The Post has learned.

One voter, Ed Gavin, 62, arrived at his Bronx polling site in Spuyten Duyvil around 8:15 a.m. to cast his vote for GOP gubernatorial candidate Rob Astorino but after checking in with a poll worker, he was handed a Democratic ballot instead, he said.

“My party never came up, my political preferences were never discussed … I opened the sleeve and I saw the names of Tom Suozzi, Kathy Hochul and Jumaane Williams. These were all Democrats for governor,” Gavin, a retired Department of Correction deputy warden, told The Post. 

“I flipped it over because I thought maybe the Republicans were on the back but there were no Republicans.” 

Gavin was incredulous and went back to the poll worker to inform them he’d been given the wrong ballot. 

“They told me ‘we don’t have any Republican ballots,’” Gavin recalled. 

The article notes:

The Post later visited the polling site and confirmed with a worker that Republican ballots were unavailable to voters earlier in the morning.

“We couldn’t find the ballots earlier, but we have them now,” the worker said.

The article reports:

Vincent Ignizio, the Deputy Executive Director of the city Board of Elections, didn’t dispute Gavin’s account when asked by The Post for comment, and instead, shifted blame to the polling location.

“Our 1,200-plus polling sites citywide are aware that we have both Republican and Democratic statewide primaries today, and the ballots for each to distribute. We have reiterated this to our borough offices to ensure all voters receive the appropriate ballots,” Ignizio said.

When Giove reported her issue on Twitter, a rep tweeted back to her that they would investigate what happened.

Gavin, who voted for Mayor Eric Adams during the mayoral election, called the snafu unacceptable and said he would’ve been just as angry if he found out there were no Democratic ballots available at the location.

Unbelievable!

Ed Gavin noted that some of the things he felt were on the ballot in New York this year were crime, bail reform, and criminal justice.