Scenes from Queens on Election Day
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Queens voters headed to the polls for Tuesday’s statewide general election. Eagle photo by Jacob Kaye
By Jacob Kaye and Rachel Vick
For the third time this year, Queens voters made their way to the polls on Tuesday to make their voices heard in the races for governor, state attorney general, several judicial and legislative spots and a number of other statewide seats.
Though voters had already cast ballots in two summer primaries, enthusiasm didn’t appear to dim for Tuesday’s general election. Some poll sites in the World’s Borough saw heavy foot traffic throughout the day, even in areas where there were few competitive local races to speak of.
At the top of the ballot, and at the top of voters’ minds, was the governor’s race between Governor Kathy Hochul and Republican Congressmember Lee Zeldin, which has become increasingly tight in recent weeks.
Democrats largely outnumber Republicans in New York State, and the same is true in Queens, where there are nearly eight Democratic voters for every one Republican voter. The split was evident in the conversations votes had with the Eagle on Tuesday.
Several voters told the Eagle that they felt the incumbent’s campaign had been lacking and that voting in the governor’s race was necessary even in a state a Republican has not led since 2006.
“I think Governor Hochul and the Democratic Party did not take the Republican opposition seriously, and I think that caught up with them,” said Arturo Suarez, a long time Astoria resident and Democratic voter. “It’s one of the reasons I came to the polls – I wanted to make sure that my vote was counted.”
Hochul’s campaign picked up significantly in the weeks leading up to Tuesday and continued on Election Day. The governor showed up in Woodside on Tuesday morning to speak with voters and a number of local elected officials, including Senate Deputy Majority Leader Michael Gianaris, Queens Borough President Donovan Richards, Assemblymember Jessica Gonzalez-Rojas, City Councilmember Julie Won and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who had yet to publicly campaign for the moderate Democrat.
Governor Kathy Hochul speaks with a voter in Woodside on Tuesday, Nov. 8, 2022. The visit to the Queens neighborhood was part of an Election Day push to defeat Republican challenger Lee Zeldin. Hochul was joined by a number of Queens elected officials, including City Councilmember Julie Won (pictured), Queens Borough President Donovan Richards, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, State Senator Michael Gianaris and Assemblymember Jessica Gonzalez-Rojas (not pictured). Eagle photo by Jacob Kaye
“We're going to pull this out tonight,” Richards said of the race between Hochul and Zeldin. “Queens is definitely a determinant in a race like this and I feel confident that our people are going to stick with democracy and defeat fascism.”
As was true in this year’s two primary races, a number of Queens voters said abortion rights were top of mind while heading to the polls.
“Candidates that support a woman's right to choose…mean a lot to me,” said Astoria voter Patrick Bursey. “I voted for Hochul for that.”
Over in more Republican areas of the borough, zeal for Zeldin – and more generally for a change in leadership – was high.
College Point voter Peter Carras said he “woke up” and switched his registration from Democratic to Republican before the election.
“We're here because we are tired of the nonsense that they're doing – the gas prices, the inflation and the lies,” Carras said. “We're living in a Democratic place and we need to change that, we need to make a Republican fight for the people. And that's what we need — people to fight for us.”
In Whitestone, a woman who told the Eagle her name was Roe V., who said that her last name actually starts with the letter “V” when asked if she was using a pseudonym — said she was ready for a change.
“The past two years have not been fun, it’s only getting worse and I think it's going to show on the polls,” she said. “We’ve had enough and we’re taking back our city.”
Lots of voters, not a lot of poll workers
Turnout appeared high on Election Day in Queens. Multiple poll sites visited by the Eagle had lines of at least a dozen people throughout the morning and early afternoon.
By noon, over 110,000 Queens voters had cast ballots, in addition to around 88,800 voters who had cast ballots at some point during the week and a half early voting period preceding Election Day.
The approximately 199,100 Queens ballots cast by noon on Election Day accounted for around 16 percent of the borough’s active voters.
Though turnout statewide was not on pace to surpass the over 2 million votes cast in the 2018 gubernatorial election, it was on pace to surpass totals seen in 2014, 2010 and 2006.
But while voters were showing up to the polls, poll workers, at some sites, were not.
Of the approximately 60 poll workers who were scheduled to work the morning shift at P.S. 70 in Astoria, a little more than half had shown up, a poll worker told the Eagle. Despite being short staffed, voters said they were moved through quickly and efficiently.
The same wasn’t true of a poll site located within Queensview, a co-op complex on 21st Street.
Though lines there rarely exceeded 10 people, they moved slowly as seven poll workers, all of whom had yet to take a break since arriving to the site a little before 6 a.m., struggled to get voters their ballots.
“People have not wanted to wait in line and they’ve left,” said City Councilmember Tiffany Cabán, who had come to the poll site after hearing reports of long lines from some of her constituents.
Voter turnout was high on Election Day, even as some poll sites struggled with staffing issues. Eagle photo by Jacob Kaye
While it was unclear what exactly was holding up voters at the site, the poll site coordinator there blamed everyone from her fellow poll workers, to the Board of Elections, to inquiries from the Eagle.
“This is what has been going on all day, that's why I can't get anything done,” the poll coordinator said. “Whenever I say something, I have to go back and forth, and this has happened like 10 or 15 times.”
Kerry McCarthy and Patricio Camacho, two voters who live in the co-op complex, said they waited in line for around 30 minutes before being able to cast their ballot.
“The line doesn’t look long but it’s taking a really long time,” McCarthy said. “It's not like there's a lot of people, they only have one person to check you in.”
The city’s Board of Elections did not respond to request for comment before print time.
Longtime State Senator faces off against challenger
Though few of Queens’ incumbent lawmakers faced serious challenges on Tuesday, one battle appeared to threaten the incumbency of State Senator Toby Ann Stavisky, who was facing a challenge from Republican candidate Stefano Forte.
As a result of redistricting, Stavisky’s Senate district has seen massive changes. The seat she is running for stretches from northern Astoria, across northern Queens to Douglaston and Glen Oaks before twisting into Southeast Queens.
Though the district overall is home to more Democratic voters than Republicans, it also overlaps with the City Council district that sent Republican Vickie Paladino to office. As a result of the changing district, Stavisky also lost a large number of her longtime constituents.
Forte, who at the age of 23 has been alive for about as long as Stavisky has been in the Senate, has centered his campaign around crime and bail reform, echoing perspectives heard from Zeldin and other Republicans this election cycle.
In College Point, a right-leaning neighborhood where Stavisky faces Forte, there were a number of voters who felt passionately about the Republican platform.
One man, who declined to give his name, said that the Democrats “should be strung up” while he walked backwards, nearly knocking over other voters.
One voter, who declined to give his first name, said he came out to the polls with crime and inflation on his mind. However, he said that he felt the issues couldn’t be pinned on one party.
“I'm well informed, so I know the boogeyman that they keep choosing and saying that are the causes and not the actual causes,” said R. Carreras. “They say inflation is happening because of the Democrats here in the United States…. then why are these gas companies making so much profit?”
“They blame these things that have not even been implemented, like defunding the police,” he added. “They haven't taken any money away from the police department, but the police have to be reformed to tackle those issues.”
The state of Queens
Midterm elections often serve as an indicator as to how voters feel about the direction the country and their local city, town or neighborhood is headed in, but Queens voters had mixed opinions about the state of the borough and its future on Tuesday.
“I feel like the general state of New York is doing slightly better than the city but in general, the city and Queens feels like it's taken a turn for the worse,” said Kevin Gayson, a voter in Astoria, who added that he’s felt there has been an “increase in crime and lack of safety in neighborhoods that were once considered safe.”
Allison Batten, a voter in northern Astoria, said that while crime and safety were among her top concerns, she felt those needs were being met.
“I like this neighborhood for me and my family, my kid,” Batten said. “It's the diversity here, and so far, I feel safe and I trust the school and that feels important to me”
