'Just annoying': Queens voters cast ballots in second primary election this year
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Polling sites in Western Queens were quiet Tuesday morning, even as a contested race for State Senate played out in the area. Eagle photo by Jacob Kaye
By Jacob Kaye
A muggy day in late August was no match for the relatively small number of Queens residents who cast their ballots for a handful of State Senate and Congressional primary races taking place throughout the borough Tuesday.
It was the second primary election to be held in the city this summer, after the Court of Appeals ruled that the state’s Senate and Congressional electoral maps ran afoul of the state’s constitution. To give the court-appointed “special master” enough time to draw the new redistricting lines, the Board of Elections split the primaries into a June and August date.
While June’s turnout was relatively low, Tuesday’s turnout in the bifurcated primary appeared to be even lower in the few areas in Queens where there were contested races on the ballot.
And while the borough was without many open races or challenges to incumbents on Tuesday, the borough wasn’t completely void of a real political contest. One of the most hotly contested races is for Senate District 59, a newly created district that covers parts of Long Island City, Astoria, Greenpoint, Williamsburg, Tudor City, Kips Bay and Stuyvesant Town. The race features a young progressive candidate backed by the Democratic Socialists of America in Kristen Gonzalez, former City Councilmember and Queens County Democratic Party-backed Elizabeth Crowley and Mike Corbett, a former staffer to former Councilmember Costa Constantinides.
But turnout in the Queens portion of the district appeared to be lagging early Tuesday, which could potentially serve as an advantage for Gonzalez.
Around 25 voters had cast their ballot at P.S. 166 in Astoria by 8 a.m., on Tuesday. The site saw well over double that number in June by that time, a poll worker told the Eagle. Turnout at Information Technology High School in Long Island City hit 46 voters by 9:45 a.m., also a decline from the June turnout.
The Ravenswood Community Center, which serves as the primary polling site for residents of NYCHA’s Ravenswood Houses, had logged less than 10 voters by 9 a.m. Poll workers there said it wasn’t just the unusual August primary that was causing issues.
Poll workers arrived at the site to find that the electronic tablets used to check voters in hadn’t been prepared the night before, as they normally are. At least five voters arrived to the site and were asked to return later. A poll worker told the Eagle that one voter left upset, another voted via affidavit ballot and the others had yet to return.
“They’re working now, we didn’t turn the voters away and we want them to come [back],” the poll worker said.
Ricardo Aca, a member of nonprofit Make the Road New York, was canvassing for votes outside of the Ravenswood site on behalf of Gonzalez.
Aca said that he was particularly concerned that the poll site issues were happening in an area home to a majority of Black and brown residents.
“I’m definitely disappointed that it's happening in a district that is majority Black voters,” Aca said. “We already know a lot of voters do not get their information about the election, so then those that do get to vote and practice the right to vote then get turned away because the machines are down – it’s inexcusable.”
A Board of Elections spokesperson said: “We had some technical issues with the poll pads at that site this morning. Some voters opted to return later, but affidavits were always available to voters.”
Issues also arose at P.S. 55 in Richmond Hill, where several voters were asked to vote via affidavit because of a mix up surrounding absentee ballots.
Voters who request absentee ballots are not allowed to vote at a polling station in-person, as per a recent rule change from the Board of Elections.
In Marisa Osorio’s case, however, that request for an absentee ballot – though the ballot itself did arrive – had never been made.
“I got it in the mail, and I was just like, ‘Why am I getting an absentee ballot?’” Osorio said. “I ripped it up because I figured I could just go vote in person.”
But when she arrived at the school, she was asked to vote by affidavit, something several others in the same situation were asked to do, as well, she said.
“It was just annoying,” she added.
In addition to malfunctioning machines, some voters told the Eagle that the split primary and redistricting had left them confused. While most said that they were informed – some, at the last minute – of the election and any potential changes to their district and polling sites, others felt unsure.
“I can’t follow with all the changes…they make it more complicated every year,” one voter who declined to give his name told the Eagle as he stormed out of the polling site at P.S. 166, spitting in front of the building as he left.
The Queens resident had been told that he had been redistricted and needed to go to a different polling place than the one he had been voting at for years.
“I’m not going there,” he said.
But most said that voting in August, as some of their neighbors vacationed, was a breeze.
“It was fast,” said Claire Wilson, a voter in Long Island City. “I didn't expect there to be a lot of people at this primary and it was kind of empty.”
The battle for Queens’ new Senate district
Standing outside Information Technology High School in Long Island City were two canvassers from two opposing campaigns.
One, a young college student, was handing out literature and speaking with voters about Gonzalez’s campaign. The other, a member of the union Plumbers Local 1, was handing out literature on behalf of Crowley’s campaign.
Raymond Lin, the Gonzalez volunteer, said he was spurred into action because of the candidate’s stance on a number of progressive issues.
“I want a progressive champion in Albany and Gonzalez is the best candidate to do that,” he said. “She supports the green new deal for New York State, public renewables, which is really important to me. She also wants housing as a human right, to pass Good Cause Eviction.”
“It's a key seat for someone who can really champion these values,” he added.
Matt Zafrani, the union member, said he was there solely on behalf of his union and said he, as a Long Islander, wasn’t personally invested in the race.
“Not like he is,” he said, pointing to Lin.
A volunteer with the Kristen Gonzalez campaign attached campaign literature to his bicycle. A poster for her opponent, Elizabeth Crowley, sits in the background in front of Information Technology High School in Long Island City. Eagle photo by Jacob Kaye
The contrast is somewhat inditictive of the race between the moderate Democrat and the progressive insurgent.
Gonzalez has touted her grassroots support. According to her campaign, she’s received over $200,000 from over 2,300 individual contributors. Volunteers were canvassing on behalf of Gonzalez at each of the polling sites the Eagle visited in the district on Tuesday.
Though Crowley too has support from individual voters, her campaign has largely been propped up by institutional support. In addition to an endorsement from the county party, Crowley was endorsed by the United Federation of Teachers, District Council 37, AFSCME, 32BJ SEIU and a number of other unions. Financially, she raised well over $1 million dollars, with a number of large donations from real estate industry groups and individuals, something she vowed not to do, according to reporting by THE CITY.
A majority of voters the Eagle spoke with in the Queens portion of the district said that they cast their ballots for Gonzalez.
“I'm really trying to vote for more progressive candidates,” said Masha Murakhovsky. “I think our city has a tendency to want to be progressive, but we constantly vote for more centrist liberal candidates that don't really seem to move the progressive agenda forward.”
Murakhovsky is not alone. A portion of the new district has elected DSA-backed candidates to office on the local, state and federal levels at some point in the past four years. Should Gonzalez win Tuesday, a group of voters in northern Astoria will be represented by a progressive official in all legislative bodies except the U.S. Senate.
Both Crowley and Gonzalez were in Manhattan on Tuesday morning and though Gonzalez had plans to make her way to poll sites and Brooklyn and Queens, Crowley planned to stay put.
“Queens voters know me,” Crowley told the Eagle. “In order to be able to meet people in Manhattan, I'm spending more time in Manhattan today.”
Speaking with voters under the N train in Astoria on Tuesday evening, Gonzalez, who was joined by City Councilmember and fellow DSA member Tiffany Cabán, reflected on the opportunity to bring a full slate of progressive leadership to the district.
“We have this opportunity to set an example for the rest of the city, the rest of the state and the rest of the country,” Gonzalez told the Eagle. “It’s not only about creating Democratic Socialists at every level of government, but those Democratic Socialists are accountable to the larger community, and for the first time working class people will have a voice at every single level.”
Addabbo defends a seat
State Senator Joseph Addabbo was facing a challenge from two candidates Tuesday.
Running against him were; Albert Baldeo, a perennial candidate formerly convicted of attempting to interfere in an FBI investigation into whether or not his campaign used straw donors to fund a run for City Council and who recently won a race for a district leader seat; and Japneet Singh, a former candidate for City Council.
More than most Queens districts, State Senate District 15, which is currently represented by Addabbo, saw some of the most significant changes to its lines during this year’s redistricting process.
It once included parts of Maspeth, Glendale, Forest Hills, Woodhaven, Richmond Hill, Ozone Park, Howard Beach and the western portion of the Rockaway peninsula. The district has now been made far more contiguous, including only parts of Woodhaven, Forest Hills, Glendale, Richmond Hill and Ozone Park.
Addabbo’s home has been cut out of the district – candidates are not required to live in the district they are running for during redistricting years.
Nearly half of the voters in the previous construction of the district were white. Now, only around 28 percent are white. The district’s Asian population grew by nearly 10 percent.
That could prove beneficial for either Baldeo, a Guyanese American, or Singh, a Sikh American.
“[The new district] does keep communities of interest together,” Baldeo said. “They are not sliced and diced or become filler for other communities, and hence, they can speak with a louder voice.”
However, it would still be a major uphill battle for Baldeo or Singh to unseat Addabbo, who has been in office for over a decade and whose father, Joseph Addabbo Sr., represented Queens voters in Congress for over 20 years.
Congressional races in the east and west
Two of the borough’s five congressional seats were in contention Tuesday.
Rep. Nydia Velazquez, who currently represents New York’s 7th Congressional District, faced a challenge from Paperboy Love Prince, who is quickly becoming a perennial political candidate in Queens and Brooklyn.
Love Prince ran against Velazquez in 2020 and the incumbent won with around 80 percent of the vote. Velazquez has served in Congress since 1993.
The district was redrawn this year to include much more of Queens. It previously was a mostly Brooklyn district, covering the northwestern part of the borough, stretching down the waterfront to Sunset Park. It also included Ridgewood, a part of Glendale and Woodhaven.It now is a mostly Queens district. Though it still covers most of northwest Brooklyn, including Greenpoint, Williamsburg and Bushwick, it also includes a significant portion of Long Island City, Astoria and Sunnyside. It also includes more of Glendale, Ridgewood and Woodhaven.
The only open seat in the borough is in New York’s 3rd Congressional District, which primarily covers Long Island. The new district, like the old, includes Little Neck, Douglaston, Beachhurst, Whitestone and Glenn Oaks. However, the district has been expanded to include a large portion of Bayside.
The seat is open after its current representative, Thomas Suozzi, made an unsuccessful bid for the governor’s office.
In the race are; Jon Kaiman, a former judge in Nassau County; Robert Zimmerman, a longtime Democratic Party booster; Joshua Lafazan, a former member of the Nassau County Legislature; Reema Rasool, a Long Island-based entrepreneur; and Melanie D’Arrigo, a progressive candidate also supported by the Working Families Party.
This story was updated at 9:01 p.m., on Tuesday, Aug. 23, 2022.
