Election 2016: Long lines, eager voters in Brooklyn

‘Packed like sardines’ at Borough Hall polling site

November 8, 2016 By Mary Frost Brooklyn Daily Eagle

A long line of voters stretched the length of the block on Fourth Street outside the polling place at M.S. 51 in Park Slope Tuesday morning. One voter who emerged from the school at 9:40 a.m. told the Eagle she had waited on line an hour and a half to vote. Eagle photo by James Harney

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Polling places in Downtown Brooklyn, Boerum Hill, Cobble Hill and Brooklyn Heights were packed with eager voters on Tuesday starting even before the official opening hour of 6 a.m.

“The line went around the block,” said Hayden LaCroix, accessibility clerk at the polling station at P.S. 8 in Brooklyn Heights. “Everyone got up mad early.”

“I work elections all the time, and this is the first time it’s ever been this intense,” he said. “There are a lot more people. The flow is constant.”

“I waited a half hour to vote,” one man told this reporter outside P.S. 8 at roughly noon.

This story was repeated at polling places around Brooklyn.

“This morning they were packed like sardines in here,” said Alice Schwartz, Chinese interpreter at the Borough Hall polling station. Schwartz said that her co-worker Matthew drew lines on the floor with tape to direct the flow of traffic, and that helped.

A long line of voters stretched the length of the block on Fourth Street outside the polling place at M.S. 51 in Park Slope in the morning. One voter who emerged from the school at 9:40 a.m. told the Eagle she had waited on line an hour and a half to vote.

Early traffic jams were reported at the St. Francis College polling site but they cleared up later in the day.

“I just finished voting. I was in and out of there within eight minutes,” one St. Francis College site voter told the Brooklyn Eagle around 3 p.m. A poll worker there said that at least 2,000 votes had been recorded on the site’s three ballot scanning machines.

At 101 Clark St. in Brooklyn Heights “it was non-stop from 6 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.,” said Nicole, who worked the front desk there during those hours.

Geneva Burnett, an information clerk at 101 Clark St., said that well over 1,000 people had voted at the site by roughly 1:30 p.m. That number was over 3,000 by 3:45 p.m.

Her colleague Gwen Fischman said the site was “enormously busy.”

“There was a very impressive showing early. People were eager to vote — they all wanted stickers,” Fischman said.

“The line went out the door,” added fellow information clerk Amanda Spurlock. “It was so hot in here we moved them outside.” She added, “No one was upset.”

A few glitches reported

The Board of Election (BOE) Twitter feed reported problems across the city with late openings, broken scanners and problems with affidavit ballots.

“If you believe you are registered to vote and your name does not appear in the poll book, you are entitled to an affidavit ballot. Your vote may be counted,” BOE tweeted to one would-be voter.

Minimal disturbances were reported in Downtown and the Heights. A man was “moved along” by police at roughly 3:45 p.m. at 101 Clark St. after bothering another voter, one person at the site told the Eagle.

“It’s so different in Trinidad and Tobago,” said Beverly, an aide who was assisting her client at the polling site. “After you’re finished you have to put your finger in a red stain. It stays there for a couple of days,” she said. “I surprised it’s so easy here.”

Former District 52 Brooklyn Assemblymember Joan Millman discusses Election Day with us. #ElectionNight #NoSleepTilPOTUS #MyVote2016 pic.twitter.com/o2B6NK6n7I

— Brooklyn Daily Eagle (@BklynEagle) November 8, 2016

Former Assemblymember Joan Millman (52nd AD) discusses the progress of voting on Tuesday at Brooklyn polling sites. Video by Mary Frost

A polling site on Adams Street in Downtown Brooklyn was busy until 11 a.m. but practically deserted around lunchtime. Poll workers said they expected another rush after working hours.

The small polling station set up for the first time this year at 10 Clinton Street in Brooklyn Heights was “pretty busy this morning,” said scanner clerk Naomi Pickens. The scanner had recorded more than 570 voters by roughly 1 p.m. Pickens said the polling site ran out of stickers by noon.

At P.S. 38 in Boerum Hill, the polls opened 25 minutes late because the voting coordinator didn’t show up on time and the machines couldn’t be turned on, frustrating early voters, according to the Daily News.

Things cleared up later, however.

“When I went there this afternoon at 2:30 it was a smooth machine,” said Eagle reporter Scott Enman.

In Cobble Hill, the lines at P.S. 29 “were out the door and around the block onto Baltic [Street],” one resident told the Eagle.

Support for Hillary

David Sclarow, co-owner of Pizza Moto on Hamilton Avenue, set up a pizza restaurant on the sidewalk outside Hillary Clinton headquarters, complete with wood-burning stove. (See video below story.)

“We’re here to support the campaign staffers because they’re working so hard,” he told the Eagle.

Informal polls showed strong Hillary Clinton sentiment.

M.S. 8 students Karsten Cole and Warner Gephardt were selling lemonade donated by b.good in front of the P.S. 8 polling site. (See video below.)

Karsten said if he could vote he would definitely back Hillary Clinton.

“I like that she’s a Democrat and she’s the first woman president,” he said.

“I’m also Hillary Clinton,” said Warner. “Previously I was Bernie Sanders, and I just like her policies of like how she’s bringing everything together, like jobs and stuff, not with rich first and all that.

“It’s going to be close,” the friends said.

“I watched the news recently,” Warner added. “There’s some battleground states that, probably depending which way they flip, will determine whoever wins.”

Karsten Cole (left) and Warner Gephardt sold lemonade at packed polling place P.S. 8 in Brooklyn Heights and told the Brooklyn Eagle that they firmly supported Hillary Clinton. Photo by Mary Frost

David Sclarow, owner of Pizza Moto, explains to us why he set up a wood-fired pizza oven in front of Hillary HQ in BK Heights #ElectionNight pic.twitter.com/1bdihJQU1O

— Brooklyn Daily Eagle (@BklynEagle) November 8, 2016

David Sclarow, co-owner of Pizza Moto on Hamilton Avenue, set up a pizza restaurant on the sidewalk outside Hillary Clinton headquarters. Video by Mary Frost

2 M.S. 8 students selling lemonade outside the packed P.S. 8 polling station in BK Heights discuss voting and politics on Election Day 2016. pic.twitter.com/1TcawFBEUl

— Brooklyn Daily Eagle (@BklynEagle) November 8, 2016

M.S. 8 students Karsten Cole and Warner Gephardt talk politics with the Brooklyn Eagle. Video by Mary Frost