Early voting enters day 3 in New York City, what you should know

Tuesday, October 27, 2020

Day three of early voting takes place in NY

Sandra Bookman reports on NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio calling on the Board of Elections to increase the number of voting machines.

NEW YORK (WABC) -- Early voting resumed Monday morning at the 88 early voting locations around the city.

The totals are in across the five boroughs as New Yorkers waited patiently to cast their ballots:

Hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers devoted hours to exercise their right over the weekend, 193,195 to be exact.

Saturday marked the first day New York allowed early voting in a presidential election, and the lines wrapping around polling sites for hours showed the eagerness of voters.

"Long lines tell people to go home," Mayor Bill de Blasio said. "They discourage voting, they don't encourage it."

He called on the Board of Elections to increase the number of voting machines. "This is a historic moment, they need to act like it's a historic moment."

The mayor added that there are machines that are currently being held for Election Day and said they need to be brought out immediately. He also called for an expansion of hours.

"The City of New York will provide the resources," de Blasio said. "You're moment has come, let's get it right now."

Among those taking advantage of early voting was Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez discusses voter suppression, the enjoyment of voting and the election process.

She waited 90 minutes to vote Sunday in the Bronx where she's up for re-election.

Ocasio-Cortez is calling for early voting to be expanded.

"We've got so many people that are thrilled to vote. This is our first federal election, general election where we have early voting. We fought to have an extra early voting place and frankly, this also shows the success of early voting as well," she said.

As for the weekend turnout, the Board of Elections said that more than 40,000 people showing up in both Manhattan and in the Queens.

The borough with the largest turnout is Brooklyn, with more than 61,000 voters.

That is just for the first two days of early voting.

Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams is also expected to speak out Monday about the need for early voting reforms after seeing long lines over the weekend.

Early voting lasts until Nov. 1. There are eight days left until the November elections.

Madison Square Garden and the Barclays Center opened to voters for the first time ever. Lines there were long and voters were told it could be a three or four-hour wait.