The State "Legislative Task Force On Demographic Research And Reappointment" unveiled its proposed maps for redrawn State Senate and Assembly districts this week, and people are pissed. Gov. Andrew Cuomo has vowed to veto it, calling it "hyperpartisan," and a chorus of minority groups have slammed the Gerrymandering, which would redraw district lines along absurd, circuitous routes to exclude voters who might oppose the incumbent. In Rochester, for instance, blacks make up 42 percent of the population, but predominantly black communities would be split among three Senate districts, making it unlikely for a black candidate to win in any of them. Minority leaders across the state are incensed. more ›

Those space age optical scan voting machines that were supposed to enrich a company in Omaha reduce overvotes have backfired spectacularly, according to a new report from the Brennan Center for Justice, which found that in the 2010 election, 20,000 voters in New York State did not have their votes for governor counted because the machines read their choices as "overvotes" (the invalid selection of more than one candidate). And most of the invalidated ballots were cast in areas with higher populations of low-income residents, people of color, and immigrants. more ›

Besides Mississippi voters rejecting a controversial anti-abortion measure, and upstate NY voters rejecting candidates with artsy nude photos, there were other big elections around the nation which gave a glimpse into the country's current mood. Ohio voters rejected an anti-labor law, Arizona voters recalled the extremist Tea Party-friendly state senator, and as a result, Democrats are starting to feel confidant again. more ›

Yesterday's low-key, low-turnout Election Day only provided a few hints toward the nation's mood going into the 2012 presidential election next year. Voters rejected many extreme right measures, while still denying the Democrats a chance to call the election a clear-cut victory. And among the things we learned: Staten Island voters like their incumbent DA, and upstate NY voters reject candidates with artsy nude photos. more ›

It's election day, and the polls in NYC are open until 9 p.m. (PDF). You can see who is running your district by entering your address here—you'll be able to see your voting location and a sample ballot. The biggest race in NYC might be the battle for Staten Island DA, between incumbent Daniel Donovan, a Republican, and Democratic challenger Mike Ryan. The Staten Island Advance reports, "Those working on both sides of the race expect between 25,000 and 30,000 voters will go to the polls today. At the high end, that would be little more than 10 percent of the borough's 268,181 registered voters." So if you can vote in SI, you should go to the polls to show your voice! more ›

Since state lawmakers have been dragging their feet, the Justice Department is asking a federal judge to make New York State move up its primary schedule. more ›

Kelsey Grammer, possibly the only straight Republican actor to ever play a gay cabaret owner, is considering a new role: mayor of New York City. more ›

After claiming first prize for low voter turnout in the US, Mayor Bloomberg wants to kill the fun and make it easier for us to exercise our rights. According to a new study, New York has the most restrictive election policies in the country, and Bloomberg wants to make it simpler for New Yorkers to vote. He said in a statement, “Voter turnout in elections for all levels of government is unacceptably low, and the State’s antiquated election laws are part of the problem. Reforms like early voting and extended registration deadlines will help New Yorkers make their voices heard." But if it's easier then we only have our apathy to blame! more ›

The New York City Board of Elections just finished recounting our votes from the Nov. 2 election, and "found" the nearly 200,000 ballots that they didn't know were missing, reports the Times. That's about 17 percent of the total votes cast, which translates to 1 vote left uncounted out of every 6. And if you voted in Queens, there was a 1 in 3 chance the the ballot wasn't counted, with a whopping 80,000 uncounted ballots found in the borough alone. Though the city spent millions to introduce the new optical scan voting machines (as required by law) this year, it turns out all the trappings of modern technology disappeared right after voters left. more ›

We did it New York, and by "it" we mean "nothing"! Out of all the apathetic states in this slothful union, New York State ranks #1, boasting the lowest voter turnout in the midterm election earlier this month. The United States Election Project at George Mason University says only 32.1 percent of the 13.4 million eligible voters in New York actually bothered to show up at the polls. Utah and Texas tied for second place, with 32.2 percent turnout, but here in New York many of us simply had too much shit to do to that day—what's their excuse? more ›

Carl Paladino, the Buffalo developer-turned Tea Party favorite- turned- surprise Republican candidate for governor, was his usual self after voting in Buffalo this morning: He told reporters, "I'm going to win this thing today. People are going out and voting and speaking. People want change ... They want to tell their kids and their grandkids that there's a future in Western New York. They're going to vote, and we're going to win." more ›

The big day has come at last: Americans have demanded change, and McDonald's has responded, by bringing back the beloved Clinton-era McRib. And if that doesn't get your lower intestine excited enough, today is also midterm Election Day. We're told the Republicans are coming to take the House—at this very moment they're climbing in your windows and snatching your people up. Information about how and where YOU can stop them or join them below: more ›

Last month, Mayor Bloomberg told radio show host John Gambling that he just doesn't get the Twitter machine. His aides maintain his Twitter account for him, and in his opinion it's all just a bunch of trivial nonsense. This opinion was based on his boring friend's use of Twitter to announce, "I'm going to the bank right now," and "I think I'll have coffee." Bloomberg said, "And you wonder, No. 1... why does anybody care? Why do people, why would you look at it?" But now the mayor is counting on Twitter to help prevent another "royal screw-up" on Election Day. more ›

The lamestream media says that next month an angry, motivated army of tea baggers will vote in a right-wing regime that will make the Bush II crowd seem like a bunch of sane and cuddly Care Bears. But someone may want to remind these disgruntled patriots that they can't just walk into the polling site and vote—the big bad guv'ment requires everyone to register. And according to the New York State Board of Elections, the surging rage you see on the tee-vee hasn't translated into a surge in registration. more ›

Last night, Carl Paladino trounced Rick Lazio to win the Republican gubernatorial primary in a big upset. State Senator Eric Schneiderman won the Democratic Attorney General primary. Rep. Charles Rangel and Rep. Carolyn Maloney both fought off challengers and won their Democratic House primaries. And, in another (happy) surprise, State Senate Majority Leader Pedro Espada Jr. conceded to Gustavo Rivera. more ›

A source tells the Daily News that Senator Chuck Schumer, a Park Slope resident, had considerable difficulty voting this morning. Polling places are required to open at 6 a.m. in New York, but the source says, "They don't open the polling place until 6:10... They can't figure out how to open the machine and he is, like, screaming at the staff that he wants to vote." Another source says, "First, the site opened late. Second, the room was in a different location. Third, there were only 2 machines, and workers told him there were supposed to be 8. And 4th, the machines did not boot-up on time." Straphangers Campaign advocate Gene Russianoff also had big problems in Park Slope. more ›

Odds are you're not bothering to vote in today's primary, so here's a taste of what awaits next time you decide to give a shit about representative democracy. Gone are the big old clunky lever machines, which always gave us the satisfying sensation of beheading our most loathed politicians. Now all voters in New York State are using paper ballots, which are then optically scanned into machines operated by Election Systems and Software [ES&S] of Omaha, Nebraska. That company's had some problems, like allocating votes cast in one race to an entirely different race that wasn’t even on the electronic ballot. more ›

Politicians and convicts alike are arguing with the Census Bureau over where prisoners are counted. Currently, prisoners are counted as residents of the areas where they are being held, not from their hometowns. The last Census information counted 43,740 inmates from the city as residents of towns in upstate New York, meaning those areas could get more legislative districts based on a false population count. Former Attica inmate Ramon Velasquez told the Daily News, "It's not fair because we don't use their services. We're being counted just for a political purpose." more ›

A judge has ruled that public school teachers cannot wear political buttons in the classroom—despite the pleas of educators who say it's their constitutional right. Gotham Gazette reports a Manhattan judge upheld a ban on political buttons, backing existing regulations mandating that "while on duty or in contact with students, all school personnel should maintain a posture of complete neutrality with respect to all candidates." Some teachers claim the ruling violates their right to free speech, and argue that older students are mature enough to understand that a "button is not part of the curriculum," or an endorsement from the school itself. Though he ruled against buttons, the judge allowed teachers to share political materials in areas closed to students. more ›

Federal prosecutors are investigating the Board of Elections' $50 million contract with ES&S, a Nebraska company contracted to supply the city with its first electronic voting machines. The machines were due to be set up by the September primaries, but may not be in place due to the probe. The Post reports that US Attorney Preet Bharara has served subpoenas to determine if the Board of Elections was bribed to choose ES&S over Dominion Voting of Toronto. more ›

Veterans of Teach For America — a program that assigns recent college grads to teach in some of the country's worst schools — are less likely to vote, give to charities, or participate in civic groups than program drop-outs and those who were accepted by Teach For America but declined to take part, according to the a new study. The Times reports that the low rates of civic involvement might stem from exhaustion and burnout, as well as disillusionment with the group's approach to improving the educational disparities. more ›

After fifty years of service, the city's lever voting machines will be replaced with "SAT-style ovals," according to the Times. When the Board of Elections chooses the city's new voting machines on Tuesday, and it's likely the group will select Scantron-style fill-in-the-blank test forms, which will be in place for the September primary. more ›

Though the end result of last night's mayoral election doesn't come as much of a surprise, the closeness of the race shocked a lot of onlookers. After running a record-breaking $100 million campaign that won major endorsements and blanketed the city in nearly non-stop advertising, Mayor Bloomberg defeated the underfunded Democratic candidate Bill Thompson by only 5 percent of the vote, winning with 51 percent to his rival's 46. This comes after polls from the days before the election predicted Bloomberg ahead by double digit — some even anticipating a win almost as large as his 20 percent victory in 2005. The pollsters might have some explaining to do. more ›

Mayor Michael Bloomberg won his controversial third term by beating Comptroller William Thompson by a much smaller than predicted margin. See the updates below for how the election night unfolded. more ›

This tweet from Laura Holder just caught our eye: "Seen at polling station (e.g. grade school): 1 man, over-6-foot tall, towering, 100% naked. Number of police: 12. Number of police cars: 4." The Local also heard about the naked man, and a volunteer for Bill Thompson says he saw the unidentified man near PS 56 in Clinton Hill, which was closed for Election Day. The volunteer says the man approached "talking all kinds of crazy stuff — he said he was a direct pure-blood descendant of Jesus." (Sounds like a Rev. Billy voter?) more ›

PolitickerNY reports that the NYC Board of Elections has been so worried about funding that it sent a letter to Mayor Bloomberg—and U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder, city budget director Mark Page, City Council Christine Quinn and others—stating it wouldn't have "the necessary funding to enable it to meet its financial obligations to vendors and poll workers for the General Election to be held on Tuesday, November 3, 2009." Uh... more ›

Yesterday's runoff elections saw a total of 228,000 ballots cast, which the Post calls a "record low." Based on estimates that the runoffs would cost the city $14.4 million, that's about $63 per vote. Another way to cut the numbers: That's 7.3% of registered Democrats. more ›

Yesterday's primary election had the lowest turnout in history. Overall, less than 400,000 registered voters headed to the polls. According to the AP, the mayoral matchup between Democrats City Comptroller William Thompson and City Councilman Tony Avella was really low: "About 10 percent of New York City's 3.1 million registered Democrats came out to vote in the contest, where just two candidates were competing." more ›

A day after Antitrust star Tim Robbins excoriated the Board of Elections in an open letter that described commissioner Gregory Soumas as a "petty vindictive corrupt scumbag," the bureaucrats have fired back with their own open letter! After some boilerplate about how the NYC BOE "takes special pride in the conduct of the November 4, 2008 election," and how they "recognize the need for all voters to be informed of all electoral procedural requirements," the letter gets down to brass tacks: "We also recognize and applaud that passion of Mr. Robbins exhibited with regard to his Election Day experience. Therefore, to harness the passion of Mr. Robbins, and to further the purpose of the NYC BOE, we hereby extend our invitation Mr. Robbins to join the NYC BOE to produce voter participation service announcements." Your move, Norville Barnes! more ›