They rocked the voting booth!
The Board of Elections has bowed to elderly Brooklyn Heights residents’ demands to move their local polling station for the November election from a Downtown high school into their own co-op building, after the seniors complained that they’re too frail to walk across two busy roads to reach the school. The news delighted and surprised the denizens, who were amazed to see the city and local leaders actually responding to their gripes.
“All too often when something goes wrong, the most that we do is point fingers thinking no one cares, no one is listening, and no one will help. That just was not the case here,” said Toba Potosky, the president of the Cadman Towers co-op complex at Cadman Plaza West and Clinton Street. “We sent out a request for help and everyone responded.”
The oldsters were outraged to learn just a week ago that they would have to travel to the Urban Assembly School for Law and Justice on Adams and Johnston to cast a ballot — playing a life-and-death game of “Frogger” with heavy traffic, bus lanes, and roadworks as they to traverse Cadman Plaza West and Adams Street.
They petitioned the Board of Elections along with Assemblywoman Jo Anne Simon (D–Brooklyn Heights) and Borough President Adams, and following a report on the pressing issue by this paper, officials told the residents on Wednesday they will instead put the station in the community room of their building at 10 Clinton St.
The city told Potosky it is too late to change the polling place for the Sept. 13 primary election, but fortunately there are no contested races in their district — no one is challenging incumbents Simon, state Sen. Daniel Squadron (D–Brooklyn Heights), or Democratic District Leaders Anne Swern and Josh Skaller, and no other party has any contested races, either.
Those who can’t make it to the polling site or secure an absentee ballot in time will however miss out on voting for judicial delegates — the party representatives who elect people to the state State Supreme Court.
