"Protect The Vote" Rallies Held In Nyack, Peekskill, White Plains

HUDSON VALLEY, NY — Rallies were held in Nyack, Peekskill and White Plains Wednesday afternoon by residents demonstrating to protect the integrity of the voting process.

The local rallies, part of a nationwide "Count Every Vote" pushback against President Donald Trump's efforts to halt vote counts in several competitive states, were peaceful — unlike the ones in New York City which led to nearly 60 arrests

• Police Make Mass Arrests In Manhattan Election Protests
• Peaceful Demonstration Leads To Clash In The West Village

In White Plains, about 200 people attended a rally spearheaded by several groups, among them Progressive Women of Pelham.

"A democracy depends upon a few key elements," said Progressive Women of Pelham Policy Director Deborah Lowery Knapp. "The first is a free and fair election. If we don’t count the votes of all people, we do not have a democracy - we have the installation of a sham government that has seized power by coup."

Among the elected officials scheduled to spoke were New York State Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins, State Senator Alessandra Biaggi, State Senator Shelley Mayer, Westchester County Executive George Latimer, White Plains Mayor Tom Roach, and US Rep.-Elect Mondaire Jones.

In Nyack, "it was good to come together and look each other in the eyes, even if the rest of our faces were covered in masks," the folks at Rockland United wrote afterward on Facebook.

In Peekskill, three small incidents were handled by the event's MC and the local police, activists said. Two protesters chose an amusing method of making their point.

In the city, a peaceful protest was held Wednesday afternoon at the New York Public Library's Midtown branch near Bryant Park.

It was hours later that protesters shut down traffic in lower Manhattan and police in riot gear moved in.

"We have arrested more than 20 individuals who attempted to hijack a peaceful protest by lighting fires, throwing garbage and eggs in Manhattan," the NYPD tweeted at 9:36 p.m.

New York City Council Speaker Corey Johnson said on Twitter Wednesday night that videos of the arrests were "incredibly disturbing."

"People have a right to protest, and journalists must never be threatened with arrest for doing their job. We need de-escalation at times like this," he wrote.