This UES Early Voting Site Is The Most Overloaded In NYC

UPPER EAST SIDE, NY — Since early voting began on Saturday, New Yorkers have been stunned by the long lines at polling sites around the city — and puzzled why some sites seemed much more crowded than others.

A new report by the city's Campaign Finance Board explains why: the number of voters assigned to each early voting site varies enormously. The most overloaded site in all of New York is Robert F. Wagner Middle School on East 76th Street, where a staggering 118,753 voters have been assigned, according to the analysis, which was first reported by Gothamist.

Sure enough, voters for days have reported interminable lines at Robert Wagner, in some cases lasting as long as six hours.

When Patch stopped by Wednesday afternoon, the line stretched around the block twice, equivalent to a roughly three-hour wait. Voters who had lined up before polls opened at noon were just reaching the front of the line by 2 p.m.

I stood in line for 6 hours to vote early yesterday at Robert Wagner Middle School. I learned afterward that 120,000 New Yorkers are assigned to this location (the most of any in the city).

It shouldn't be this hard to show up and do what's right. It just shouldn't.
— Emily Abbate (@emilyabbate) October 28, 2020

I waited in line for 5 hours & 40 minutes to vote today. Apparently our polling location (Robert Wagner Middle School on East 75th St in Manhattan) had the most voters assigned to it. Surely everyone else’s line will be much shorter. No excuses. VOTE. #VoteEarly #NYCEarlyVoting pic.twitter.com/0zCMDwcix7
— Mallory O'Brien (@mallory_obrien) October 28, 2020

The Board of Elections has come under harsh scrutiny this week for the long waits, and for setting up only 88 early voting sites compared to 1,201 on Election Day Nov. 3.

Mayor Bill de Blasio blamed the lines on incompetence by the Board, while Rep Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez called them a form of voter suppression, since they could deter people from casting their votes.

According to the CFB analysis, the five most overloaded polling sites in New York are:

• Robert Wagner Middle School, 220 East 76th Street: 118,753 assigned registered voters
• West Side High School, 140 West 102nd Street: 112,795 assigned voters
• Madison Square Garden Lobby, 4 Pennsylvania Plaza: 110,847 assigned voters
• Council Center for Senior Citizens, 1001 Quentin Road (Brooklyn): 100,535 assigned voters
• Helen Marshall Cultural Center at Queens Borough Hall, 120-55 Queens Boulevard (Queens): 98,012 assigned voters

The least-crowded site, by contrast, is the NYU Skirball Center for the Performing Arts in Greenwich Village, where only 8,317 voters are assigned.

A spokesperson for the Board did not respond to questions about how the assignments were made.

City Councilmember Keith Powers, whose district includes the Robert Wagner poll site, tweeted that his office was working with the BOE to improve the line system there.

In a statement, neighboring Councilmember Ben Kallos called for abolishing the Board of Elections and replacing it with a new agency, citing this week's lines and years of documented incompetence at the troubled agency.

"The long lines at Robert Wagner Middle School are not acceptable, this few early voting sites for millions of people was never going to work, they should have known this," Kallos said.

Responding to public pressure, the Board of Elections on Tuesday announced extended hours from Friday through Sunday at early voting sites around the city.

In a Wednesday afternoon news conference near the poll site, Assemblymember Rebecca Seawright — who is herself on the ballot for re-election on the Upper East Side — threatened to sue the Board of Elections unless it found alternate locations to alleviate the burden on the Robert Wagner site.

"Parents of school age children, including working women and men should never have to wait for many hours on long lines," Seawright said in a statement.

Resident Peter Spiegelman was making his second attempt to vote on Wednesday, having first arrived at 6:45 a.m. on Monday only to find a three-hour wait, which he hadn't budgeted for.

He took a charitable view toward the lines, noting that this is New York's first time allowing early voting in a presidential election.

"I'm sure they'll optimize it over time," he said.

As for the root cause of the long waits, Spiegelman shrugged his shoulders.

"Is it suppression or incompetence?" he laughed. "Hard to say."

Related coverage:

• New Yorkers Brave Long Lines For Day 4 Of Early Voting