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Thousands of WC voters given incorrect places to vote early

Many voters were given incorrect addresses of the locations for where they were supposed to go to vote early.

News 12 Staff

Jun 15, 2020, 6:50 PM

Updated 1,649 days ago

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Voters in Westchester are running into trouble at the polls with only a week to go before this year's primary elections.
Commissioners at the Westchester Board of Elections say errors have been made that may have impacted thousands of early voters.
Many were given incorrect addresses of the locations for where they were supposed to go vote early.                
In addition, some voters only received a federal ballot, and were missing ballots for the state and local elections.
Board of Elections commissioners admit to the errors, blaming human error and technical issues along with procedural changes due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Commissioners say they are understaffed and processing tens-of-thousands of absentee applications.
 Westchester Board of Elections commissioners are downplaying the issue.
"There will be no disenfranchisement of voters because they will all have the opportunity to vote by absentee, they will all have the opportunity to vote early, and still vote on primary day," says Westchester Board of Elections Republican Commissioner Doug Colety.
But candidates who are running are demanding action. "This is absolutely no way to run a democracy. There's never been a year more important for people to vote and people want to vote this year and they're making it hard," says Allison Fine (D), congressional candidate.
State Assembly candidate Kristen Browde, another Democrat, is also running into issues. Her polling place didn't have a state and local ballot - the one her name is on. "You've got what looks like voter suppression and it's just plain wrong," says Browde.
Early voting runs through Sunday.
Voters who want to avoid issues can still vote by absentee ballot or just vote on primary day which is a week from today.
If you are voting in your school district's budget and school board elections, you must have your absentee ballot postmarked by 5 p.m. today. This is the first time the state has had all mail in school elections due to coronavirus and there's no word on when the districts will have results.