Treyger calls on city to establish emergency voting plan
In the past 15 years, elections in New York City have been disrupted twice by cataclysmic events — the Sept. 11 terror attack, which took place on Primary Day, and Superstorm Sandy, which hit the East Coast a week before the 2012 General Election.
If a monumental event takes place again, New York’s voting apparatus should be prepared, according to Councilmember Mark Treyger (D-Coney Island-Gravesend-parts of Bensonhurst), who has introduced a bill that would mandate the Board of Elections to develop plans to ensure that election events are properly administered in case of a natural or manmade disaster.
The bill would order the Board of Elections to develop a plan in conjunction with the Office of Emergency Management (OEM) in the event that incidents such as extreme weather, natural disasters, states of emergency or acts of terrorism hinder the ability for people to vote.