Today, New York City voters are doing their job, turning out for the Democratic primary for mayor and other local offices. But we wonder if the bumbling city Board of Elections will be able to do their job of making voting efficient and safe, amid this horrible heat wave. After long experience, we have good cause to worry.
Shortly after polls close at 9 p.m., the BOE will release some preliminary results, but there’s a catch: these will only encompass the first choice for each voter, which, in a close ranked-choice election, doesn’t get you very far.
Instead, what the BOE should do is publish the images of the physical ballots that the scanners create, with all the rankings, as well as the relevant data down to each election district. The top court in the state, the Court of Appeals erred in ruling that the BOE cannot be compelled to share these images, but it should do so voluntarily, and state legislators should change the law to establish it as standard.
As a technical matter, it would be very simple for the BOE to make these images available as they come in. Other cities already do this, which allows for a more complete and immediate record and greater confidence in the electoral process at a time when, sadly, some political actors have found it useful to lob false accusations of significant voter fraud or irregularities in the United States.
It would also allow for some more sophisticated modeling of the results by campaigns and other interested parties, though we should note for our politically-active readers that this still wouldn’t mean we get final results on Primary Day or the day after, especially since ballots cast by mail have until next week to be received.
In an era of immediate convenience, it might seem frustrating or antiquated to some to have results pending for so long, but properly tabulating the electoral will of the voting public is one of the most crucial functions of our government, and it must be done right.
Speaking of done right, we retain our long-time skepticism of the BOE as currently constituted, only further cemented by incredible slip-ups like 2021’s counting of 135,000 dummy ballots. This is part of the board’s structure as a patronage organ of the borough party machines. That’s not necessarily to say that every person who works there is a nepotistic flunky, but it does not exactly select for the most qualified candidates in administrative positions particularly.
We understand the design was intended to have each party keep an eye on the other and discourage partisan meddling in the elections process, but in practice we’re left with a lumbering board.
In the meantime, one absolutely crucial way that the BOE can try to demonstrate its competence this time is ensuring that the thousands of poll workers who are on the ground making the election process actually run are kept as safe as possible from the extreme heat we’re suffering from.
This means that the auditoriums and school gyms and other places where these workers pull long days should be properly air conditioned and stocked with fans, water, ice, electrolyte solutions, and whatever else is needed to ensure the heat remains more of an annoyance than a lethal danger.
Sometimes soldiers die or are injured in service to democracy, but that certainly shouldn’t include elderly poll workers in a public school.
