Results tagged “voting”

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.

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.

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?)

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...

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.

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."

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!

If you thought Barack Obama's decisive victory might shut up Arlington Road star Tim Robbins, well, you don't know Tim Robbins. First he was outraged when poll workers wouldn't let him vote at his regular voting place on Election Day, then he was doubly incensed when the Board of Elections publicly blamed the snafu on him (for supposedly registering twice with a different address). Now the Fraternity Vacation star has gone all Huff Post on the BoE with—fasten your seat belts—a witheringly contemptuous open letter. It begins: Dear [Board of Elections Commissioner Gregory] Soumas, I would like to publicly apologize for being such a dim-witted dilettante on Election Day. I was under the naïve assumption that I could vote where I voted in the last two elections." It gets worse from there, and after ruthlessly rocking Soumas's cradle with a mystical river of sarcasm, Robbins's ire reaches its highest fidelity with, "...you are a petty vindictive corrupt scumbag." You gonna take that, Soumas?!

More on Tim Robbins Voter-gate! City Room has a thorough exposé on what went wrong for the Tapeheads star on Election Day, when he showed up to vote at the YMCA on West 14th Street and was told that his name was not in the Poll List Book. His misadventures got a lot of media attention after he refused to fill out a provisional ballot, accused poll workers of trying to "intimidate" him, and finally got a judge at the Board of Elections office to issue an order permitting him to vote.

It's believed yesterday's presidential election had the biggest voter turnout since the 1960 election: American University's Center for the Study of the American Electorate director Curtis Gans "predicted that as many as 135 million people would cast votes - 64.8 percent of those eligible to vote, compared with 67 percent in 1960."

Politicker NY's Azi Paybarah was on the scene at 134th in Harlem when Representative Charles Rangel and his wife Alma went to vote at 6 a.m. and reports Rangel was thrilled with the line: "This is beautiful. This is exciting.. Who would have thought it? I've never seen anything like this." Rangel, who also said he was confident with Barack Obama's chances, was also overheard saying, "Those Europeans never thought the slaves would be in charge."

              

Americans all over the country are heading to their polling places to cast their votes for President as well as a number of other races. Polls opened at 6 a.m. in New York, New Jersey and Connecticut, and they close at 8 p.m. in NJ and CT and at 9 p.m. in NY.

Tim Robbins made a big stink at the YMCA on West 14th Street this morning when he was told that his name was not on the voter list. According to City Room, Robbins has been voting at the same polling place since 1997, but for some unknown reason, his name was nowhere to be found when he went in this morning. The Times happened upon him sitting in a folding chair looking dejected and annoyed: "The poll workers here know me...The woman said she remembered seeing me here for the primaries."

Reminder! Now that you've done your civic duty and cashed in with free treats, head over to Babeland to pick up your Maverick sleeve (gentlemen) or Silver Bullet vibrator (ladies). We just talked to the shop, and with the stores only opened for a couple of hours, they've already had well over 200 people stop in asking for the toys. Get yours before it's too late! The three shop locations are at 462 Bergen Street in Brooklyn, and 94 Rivington Street and 43 Mercer Street in Manhattan (they'll each be handing them out through the 11th). So which gender is looking to spice up their election eve? Babeland tells us they're going at a pace of about 4-1, vibes to mavericks.

The polls open at 6 a.m. statewide tomorrow, and given the recent concern about whether the NYC Board of Elections is prepared for an anticipated massive voter turnout, you might want to consider voting early. Polls close at 9 p.m., and you can check your voting location here or by calling 1-866-VOTE-NYC. In New Jersey, polls open at 6 a.m. and close at 8 p.m; you can look up your polling place here. Polls in Connecticut are also open during the same hours as Jersey.

Sure, it's going to be gratifying voting for Barack Obama Tuesday (sorry one McCain reader), but the folks at Babeland want to make you feel even more gratified. Like, between your legs, if you know what we mean. The sex toy shop just sent over a press release, declaring that every voter that comes into their shop next Tuesday (and through the 11th) will receive a Silver Bullet vibrator, or a Maverick (pictured). That second one is for the men out there, and to put it conservatively, it's a...sleeve. All you have to do is "bring your voter registration card, ballot stub or your word of honor that you cast a ballot on November 4th" and they'll hook you up with the goods, which will probably help keep stress levels down until the election results are in.

Mayor Bloomberg criticized the city's Board of Elections, after BOE officials said Election Day could be chaotic, "This is a joke...this public is badly served by this agency as any city or state thing I've seen."

With only six days to go until Election Day, we should all be excited or relieved to finally cast our ballots and leave the worrying for when we wait for returns. But all signs are pointing to a rough day for NYC's 4.6 million voters, courtesy of the NYC Board of Elections--and Mayor Bloomberg. For instance, this is what BOE official Frederic Umane said yesterday, "We just hope that people would be as patient when they try to vote as they would be trying to wait for a hamburger at one of the more fancy hamburger places, which I understand the lines can be up to two or three hours."

The things you see when you leave the New York City limits! This photo was taken on Grove Street in Jersey City last weekend en route to the PATH station after All Points West. Hung on a fence surrounding a vacant lot, the banner speaks volumes about the Garden State's famed anarcho-syndicalism, which has succeeding in directly carrying out the collective will through cutting-edge technology like text messaging. If only New York City developers would let Blackberry-toting urbanites decide their plans, maybe there'd be fewer "fabulous lofts" and more bars with Jalapeño poppers and backyard beer pong!... On second thought, let's go with the giant nail salon.

Ohio and Texas are "too close to call" for Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, which means it will be a long night - and very possibly another few weeks of primary madness. Obama did win Vermont (so far, 59% to Clinton's 39%) and Clinton won Rhode Island (currently 57% to Obama's 42%), which is her first win in a while, but those states aren't the focus.

Senators and rivals for the Democratic presidential nomination Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama met at the University of Texas in Austin tonight for the CNN/Univision debate. The debate was less a showdown than an "agree to disagree" type affair. You can read a transcript here and clips will start to appear, but, per Austinist, here are some of best lines of the night:

“I have to confess, I was somewhat amused, the other night, when, on one of the TV shows, one of Senator Obama's supporters was asked to name one accomplishment of Senator Obama, and he couldn't.” -- Clinton

Continue reading "Texas Hold 'Em: Clinton, Obama Debate in Austin"

After the NY Times story revealed how NYC votes for Barack Obama appear to have been undercounted for the unofficial (yet official enough to be sent to the AP and other news outlets) results on primary night, State Senator Bill Perkins of Harlem spoke out. Perkins, who supports Obama, told the Post

: "Every election has problems, but in this case, all the problems seem to have been his," said state Sen. Bill Perkins (D-Harlem). "He got all the zeroes and undercounting.

Continue reading "Pol: NYC's Unofficial Count of Primary Votes Contributed to Clinton's "False Momentum""

Your Super Tuesday primary vote did count, although it may not have initially. The NY Times did some digging around after noticing, according to the unofficial results the media relies on, 80 NYC voting districts recorded no votes for Obama, even in neighborhoods with large black populations. The city has now "confirmed some major discrepancies between the vote totals reported publicly — and unofficially — on primary night and the actual tally on hundreds of voting machines across the city."

After losing by considerable margins in D.C., Maryland, and Virginia primaries to Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton unveiled an ad attacking her rival yesterday. The voiceover says:

Both Democratic candidates were invited to a televised debate here in Wisconsin. Hillary Clinton has said yes. Barack Obama hasn’t. Maybe he’d prefer to give speeches than have to answer questions.

Continue reading "Clinton Attacks Obama's Lack of Debate Desire"

http://gothamist.com/2008/02/05/get_out_your_pr.php

ART: "Drawing Art and Politics" seems like a fitting event to have on the calendar today. "Spend an evening with New York’s renowned graphic artists Jules Feiffer, David Levine, Stan Mack, and Edward Sorel, as they examine the ways in which complex social and political issues are depicted by artists in today’s media. Jules Feiffer will moderate a discussion that explores the roots of political art and social realism in the context of John Sloan’s early 20th-century illustrations of New Yorkers engaging in routine pastimes and pleasures. Presented in conjunction with John Sloan’s New York." More info here.

Yesterday, the Daily News and Newsday offered editorials endorsing Hillary Clinton for Tuesday's NY State Democratic Primary. While the News calls both Clinton and Barack Obama are "compelling choices," disagrees with both candidates' strategies for ending the war in Iraq and finds Obama inspirational, the News ultimately finds Clinton to be the "stronger" of the two, because of her experience. There are concerns about Bill Clinton's recent involvement - and potential involvement if his wife is elected:

Based on her experience and her service on behalf of New York, The News backs Hillary Clinton in the full expectation that from here on out she and her husband will abide by standards of fairness - and, more important, that she intends to draw firm, clear lines should she make it to the White House.