Friends -
Earlier this week, the New York City Board of Elections released incorrect vote totals in the mayoral primary, before removing that information from its website and issuing an apology.
I’ve seen some elected officials falsely claim that the new ranked choice voting (RCV) system is to blame for the BOE’s failures.
But the truth is that the BOE is largely staffed by friends and family members of elected officials and political heavy hitters who are appointed for no other reason than cronyism. New York is the only state where this is allowed to happen.
This week’s reporting blunder wasn’t the first time BOE members’ ineptitude has caused serious hiccups in the democratic process.
Many city voters who applied for absentee ballots last November didn’t receive their ballots until the day before the election, and 100,000 others received ballots with incorrect information. In 2016, the Board accidentally purged 200,000 people from the voter rolls; in 2018, many voters stood in line for hours to cast their ballots.
This is a crisis for our democracy, and it has left the door open for bad faith attacks. Donald Trump used the confusion surrounding absentee ballot distribution last year to claim widespread voter fraud.
New Yorkers deserve to vote early and absentee without incident, and to receive accurate and timely information about election results. I don’t think that’s too much to ask for — and if you agree, I’m asking you to join me:
For far too long, the Board of Elections has been run by the friends and family members of New York City’s political elite rather than qualified and competent civil servants.
It’s past time we changed that, and I would be grateful if you would lend your support in the push to clean up elections in our city.
All my best,
Alessandra Biaggi
Paid For By The Committee To Elect Alessandra Biaggi
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