It's Time to Stop Unfair Elections in New York
Op-Ed | People | Politics | Austin Kong
Kathy Hochul's recent election may seem like a nice victory for the Democrats but the results of the midterms showed that not all New Yorkers are in agreement with her policies since her subsequent role as Governor of New York State. In fact, she gained 52.9% of the vote, just 300,000 more votes than Lee Zeldin with 42.1% of the vote, and even still, 96% of the vote has been accounted for, according to The Associated Press.
These subliminal gains make it significantly difficult for an up-and-coming Republican challenger to win seats in New York. True, they do have a stronghold over the state and have been since 1988. But these implicit biases against Republican candidates have a lasting effect on the psyche of the voting process. That’s not to say that most Democratic voters are from New York City which does affect Long Island and upstate counties, mostly Republican. The biggest fundraising power for both parties also happen to be in New York City, swaying the whole state to blue.
In her victory speech, she declared that she’s the first female governor in the state of New York and that she will continue to fight for all New Yorkers. Yet the results of the polls show otherwise only winning the city, parts of Westchester and cities in upstate.
These implicit biases also happen at a smaller level where they occur out on the street or within polling locations in New York City. A poll worker, who asked to be unnamed for her account, witnessed several situations where these biases took place on election day.
Their account happened whilst working the polls as an information clerk in Brooklyn’s 43rd Assembly District. While setting up the ballot machines and privacy booths before voters came in, the coordinator brought all team members together for a quick pep talk.
“I always thought that by poll-working, we'd get a chance to serve our elections equally and fairly. But when the coordinator mentioned how this election was only about abortion and that women's rights were on the line. He has no idea what he's talking about and especially of the ongoing crime in this city.”
The Board of Elections rules state very clearly that “poll workers should not discuss candidates or issues on the ballot, topics related to ethnicity, culture, religion and gender of a poll worker, voter, or any other person at the poll site.” While it is not illegal to talk about politics on a poll site, it does set the tone for the room that otherwise shouldn’t have been said.
She has been working for the Board of Elections since the last general election in 2022 where she encountered many abuses in the system. Several people were actively campaigning and giving out fliers to voters outside of the poll site knowing full well they weren’t allowed within 100 feet doing so yet nothing was done to curb them from blatant electioneering. She didn’t see the same in other neighborhoods in Jewish communities where they campaigned and the response time from the poll workers to deal with hassling campaigners was swift.
Despite having a larger Democrat presence in Brooklyn with at least 1,147,500 registered in the borough, not every Brooklynite is in agreement. Some have decided to switch sides, especially in Brooklyn’s very Caribbean neighborhood of Flatbush.
One resident of the neighborhood said, “I simply don't have faith in our election system anymore. They say all these things but they do very little for our community.”
Election day for the whole state proved otherwise as votes began to tally up and results for each county district came in. The Associated Press is the leading caller for elections in the United States and has been since 1848. While there is no central authority election tallying, it’s important to note that only 96%of the vote in New York State for the governor elections has been accounted for, leaving only 4% to chance. While that percentage left doesn’t seem a lot, it still means that there are votes still unaccounted for that people took the time in and voted. Yet the Associated Press still went ahead and called the race for Kathy Hochul way before the reported count reached 96%. Why not consider all the votes and stop calling the election prematurely? Why give that edge early on?
For far too long, the Associated Press has abused the public’s trust when it comes to election calling, often influencing the elections as a whole. Perhaps it’s time to put our trust in another system than a shoddy media company that calls elections unfairly.
