Less than a month before the upcoming primary election, thousands of tenants at a Queens housing complex face mass confusion over where to vote on Sept. 12.
The controversy is over a polling site at LeFrak City, an affordable housing development with upwards of 15,000 residents in Corona, Queens. Tenants there said on Tuesday that they're in limbo because the New York City Board of Elections has moved their poll site off the property to two different locations from the one on-site community room they used for decades.
The Board said they were forced to make the change because the existing site did the site did not comply with accessibility rules under the Americans with Disabilities Act.
A court-appointed consultant notified the Board of the accessibility issue last year. Executive Director Michael Ryan said they didn't make any changes then because it was too close to the presidential election. He said they were working with the LeFrak management to find alternative locations on the property.
“Whatever happens here is going to happen — or not happen — based on the level of cooperation from the landlord,” Ryan told frustrated tenants and activists at the board's weekly meeting Tuesday.
But the president of the tenant association, Malikah Khadijah Shabazz, said the board should have fixed the problem sooner.
“I have never seen so much confusion over a poll site in my community,” said Shabazz who said she’s lived in LeFrak City for more than 40 years.
The residents are considered an important block of voters in a local city council race to replace current City Council member Julissa Ferarras-Copeland. The democratic primary battle pits Assemblyman Francisco Moya, backed by the Queens County Democrats, against Hiram Monserrate, a former state senator convicted of assaulting his girlfriend and misusing city funds.
LeFrak City is considered a Monserrate stronghold. Activist Bertha Lewis, who backs Monserrate, threatened legal action against the Board of Elections.
“This board is responsible for this voter suppression,” said Lewis. “You had over a year.”
Poll site notifications sent to LeFrak City residents list the two new poll sites — instead of the one location where all residents used to vote. One site is nearly a quarter mile from the property; the other is more than a half mile away.
A spokeswoman for the Board said there is still time to move the poll sites back to LeFrak City, if they are able to find space that is accessible. Ultimately, the decision will be made by the two Queens Board of Elections commissioners.
Neither of them were present for Tuesday's meeting.
CORRECTION: The headline of this story has been changed based on updated information from the New York City Board of Elections. In addition, the story has been corrected to note that poll site notifications were sent to residents at LeFrak City for two new poll sites located several blocks off the property. The text was updated 1:26 p.m. Wed., August 16, 2017.
