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...
The NYC BOE's Marcus Cederqvist and George Gonzalez pointed out that the runoff election—which reportedly cost $14.4 million to mount for dismal turnout—wasn't planned up in the budget and also blamed underfunding. They were also scolding, noting that the funding issue "would imperil the voting rights of the city’s more than 4 million voters and expose the city to additional liability under the Federal Voting Rights act of 1965."
However, Bloomberg spokesman Marc LaVorgna tells PolitickerNY that the money is there. "The Board's budget never includes extra funding for potential special elections or runoff elections that may or may not occur. Any time a run off or special election occurs, that bill is subsequently paid by the City. The funding has been provided this way for years and it will be done that way again this year. The Board can spend the full amount originally budget for November 3rd." And thus we can exercise our right to vote.
