In win for residents, Board of Elections will
keep polling sites on LeFrak City campus
In a victory for LeFrak City residents,
LeFrak City residents and other community members held a City Hall protest last spring
to oppose a plan to move local polling sites from their longtime LeFrak City location.
PUBLISHER & EDITOR Victoria Schneps-Yunis
ASSOCIATE PUBLISHER Joshua A. Schneps
EDITOR IN CHIEF Chris Erikson
LEfRaK CIty COURIER | WWW.QNS.CoM | JULy 2018 3
the Board of Elections has
shelved a plan to move polling
sites for fi ve local election districts off
the LeFrak City campus.
Last April the BOE announced that
it would move polling for the fi ve election
districts – the 15th, 16th, 17th,
18th, and 25th – from LeFrak City’s
Continental Room, located in Section
I, to a pair of off -campus school sites,
P.S. 13 and the High School for Arts
and Businesses, the latter of which
sits three-quarters of a mile away. Th e
Board claimed that the Continental
Room, which had been used for decades,
wasn’t large enough and did not
meet accessibility requirements for
people with disabilities.
But the move was opposed by local
residents, who said having to travel so
far to vote was a hardship, especially
for LeFrak City’s many seniors, and argued
that the size and accessibility of
the LeFrak City polling site had never
been an issue.
Last April, the LeFrak City Tenants
Association and other groups protested
on the steps of City Hall alongside
elected offi cials, and the tenant group
and others subsequently fi led a lawsuit
against the BOE.
Last October a judge ruled in favor
of the residents, calling the site move
“irrational, arbitrary and capricious.”
But the BOE fi led an appeal, which is
still pending.
However, with a June primary looming,
the BOE announced at the end of
last month that it would keep the polling
place for three of the districts in the
Continental Room, while moving the
two others to the LeFrak City branch
of the Queens Library.
The primary contest between U.S.
Representative Joe Crowley (D-Queens,
Bronx) and challenger Alexandria Ocasio
Cortez will be held June 26.
LeFrak City has entered into polling
place agreements with the Board
of Elections that will keep the polling
sites on campus through June of 2019.
Michael Ryan, the BOE’s executive director,
told the Queens Chronicle he
expects the sites to remain at LeFrak
City indefi nitely.
Congressman Crowley hailed the
move, calling it an “important victory”
for LeFrak City residents, and calling
the initial plan “misguided.”
“Maintaining the polling sites sends a
strong message to LeFrak City residents,
and to the entire city, that their voices matter
and their right to vote is paramount.”
Congressman Joe Crowley hails ‘important victory’
Congressman Joe Crowley
(D-Queens, the
Bronx) issued the following
statement aft er LeFrak
City signed a new lease to keep
the community’s polling sites
within the apartment complex:
“LeFrak City residents, and all of us
fi ghting to expand access to the ballot
box, won an important victory today.
Th ese polling sites should never have
been at risk and I’m glad these Queens
residents will be able to participate in
our Democratic system easily and unobstructed,”
said Congressman Crowley.
Crowley has been working alongside
the LeFrak City Tenants’ Association,
Assemblyman Jeff rion Aubry,
Councilman Francisco Moya, and
residents since last summer to
advocate for the polling sites to
be maintained. In August, Crowley
publicly called on the Queens
Board of Elections to work with
the LeFrak City community to
ensure their access to the polls was
not unnecessarily impeded. Earlier this
year, Crowley demanded the board
immediately drop their misguided effort
to move the longtime polling sites
to alternate locations in Queens.
“I stand with my constituents and
their right to vote,” said Crowley.
“Maintaining the polling sites sends
a strong message to LeFrak City residents,
and to the entire city, that their
voices matter and their right to vote is
paramount.”
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