Mayor Bill de Blasio waits in line 3.5 hours to vote, shares his pizza
PARK SLOPE, Brooklyn (WABC) -- Mayor Bill de Blasio waited hours in line to cast his ballot early for the presidential election.
The mayor got in line around 1:15 p.m. Tuesday and waited three and a half hours -- like so many other New Yorkers have done.
De Blasio tweeted that despite the long line, it will be worth it:
"Getting ready to vote in Brooklyn. Long line but it will be worth it! Urging all progressives to vote for Joe Biden and Kamala Harris on the Working Families Party line in New York State. Protect our @NYWFP and change our nation, all at once!"
Related: Early Voting in New York - Info, links and resources
He ordered a pizza from Smiling Pizza while he waited. He ate one slice and then handed out the rest.
The polls opened at noon Tuesday at New York City's 88 locations. Turnout for day three on Monday was the highest so far, breaking already impressive totals from the weekend. The NYC Board of Elections say 1,102,313 absentee ballot applications had been processed by the end of business Monday, with another 5,924 applications still awaiting processing.
Voters have been anxious to cast their ballot, and many aren't complaining. However, Governor Andrew Cuomo and Mayor Bill de Blasio had previously said the lines are not acceptable.
RELATED: New York officials optimistic about fixes to mail-in voting system
"New York City Board of Elections blew it," Cuomo said.
They're calling out the Board of Elections, saying more machines and locations are needed, as well as longer hours.
"If the board had enough for knowledge to know that they need a lot of machines, particularly in places where you're going to have a high level of interest in turnout," de Blasio said. "I don't know why they don't even put more machines out. They should do it now."
Eyewitness News has been in touch with the Board of Elections to see if they have a response or might make any changes. So far, they have not responded to the mayor and governor's attacks.
On Tuesday afternoon, the Board of Elections voted voted to extend the early voting hours on Friday 10/30: 7 a.m.-5 p.m., Saturday: 10/31 7 a.m.-5 p.m. and Sunday: 11/1 7 a.m.-4 p.m.
Early voting lasts until November 1. There is no early voting on November 2 ahead of the November 3 general election.
CLICK HERE to find your polling place, and CLICK HERE to browse by county for times and places where you can vote early.
RELATED: New York early voting: What you need to know
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