Yolanda Pairson voting in the ambulance. (
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Displaced New Yorkers voted in the dark, in tents and in temporary polling stations around town today, refusing to let Hurricane Sandy rob them of democracy.
Voting was particularly difficult in storm-ravaged Staten Island and Queens, as workers scrambled to construct makeshift polling stations.
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But even their most diligent efforts couldn’t avoid problems. A large tent and temporary generator was powering a Rockaways polling station — until the generator ran out of gas at one point this morning.
An exasperated Mayor Bloomberg said he couldn’t believe Board of Elections officials could have forgotten such a basic necessity like fuel.
“When we became aware of it, the Department of Education did deliver fuel to that polling site,” the mayor said.
Bloomberg, a remarkably harsh critic of the Board of Elections, said he had no confidence the body would be able to pull off a problem-free election day under these trying circumstances.
“If these were the only problems the Board of Elections encountered today we should consider ourselves very lucky but unfortunately based on its history that is not likely to be the case,” Bloomberg said.
No one wanted to vote more than 65-year-old Yolanda Pairson, who collapsed while on line at her polling station in Ditmas Park, Brooklyn. She was loaded into an ambulance as daughter Karen Leftuy, 39, rushed her a paper ballot and the plucky senior voted while being given oxygen.
“I’m happy I voted,” Pairson said.
Red Hook resident Emelyn Matos, 36, was flooded out of her building and is stuck at a shelter at John Jay HS — where her polling station normally is.
But the polling station was moved 10 blocks away, because of the storm shelter. And now Matos, who walks with a cane, said she can’t make that 10-block journey.
“I wanted to vote but I couldn’t and that’s not right,” she said. “This is the first year I haven’t been able to vote ever since I was able to vote. It’s heart-breaking.”
The nearest one is very far from here. It’s not like it’s nearby.In between trying to get the family together and find out what’s going on, it’s unbearable.”
Staten Island voters lined up in the pitch dark, under temporary lights, to cast ballots at PS 52 in the hard-hit Midland Beach neighborhood.
Voters all over town put up long waits to exercise their democratic rights:
— There were two-hour long lines at Theater for the New City in the East Village. Voter Wendall Harrington, 62, said: “I’ve been voting here for 40 years — since ‘72 — and this is crazy! I’ve never seen a line like this.”
— At PS 167 in the Upper East Side, voters complained about waiting three hours to cast ballots.
Retired lawyer Stan Siegel said: “It was a pain in the ass. It was the longest wait ever. Some of the [poll station] workers weren’t even here and that made it much longer.”
— There were also two-hour long waits at PS 75 in the Upper West Side, but displaced Elmont, LI, resident Eunice Coldman, 54, was just happy to be there.
“I am displaced because of Hurricane Sandy. We were hit badly. I lost my apartment, no power, no nothing,” she said. “I want to thank the governor. The governor said we could vote anywhere. It’s a bit long but in my heart of hearts I believe the turnout is because people turned out to vote, and not because of the additional displaced voters.”
It was hard to miss the impact of Hurricane Sandy at polling stations all over the New York area.
Out on Long Island, Long Beach voter Sarah Brewster began to cry when she spotted that all the clocks at her school polling station were stopped at 7:27 — the time power was lost last Monday night to Sandy.
Voting is “part of our civic responsibility in the midst of all this crisis,” she said.
Jersey residents displaced by the storm also trudged to polls under trying circumstances.
No matter the chaos surrounding her, retired customer service agent Joan Andrews said failing to vote today was not an option.
“I always have to vote, especially now,” said Andrews, from Moonachie, NJ.
Annette DeBona, of Point Pleasant Beach, NJ, said she’ll always cherish her vote in this year’s elections.
“Oh my God, I have been so anxious about being able to vote,” said Annette DeBona of Point Pleasant Beach. “It’s such a relief to be able to do it. This is the happiest vote I ever cast in my life.”
Renee Kearney of Point Pleasant Beach said she felt additional responsibility to cast a ballot this Election Day.
“It feels extra important today because you have the opportunity to influence the state of things right now, which is a disaster,” the 41-year-old project manager for an information technology company said.
With Post Wire Services and additional reporting by David K. Li