Big Apple voters endured massive lines as they flocked to the polls Tuesday morning to decide which New Yorker they want to send to the White House.
Even though Democrat Hillary Clinton is heavily favored against Republican Donald Trump to take the Empire State’s 29 Electoral College votes, lines stretching city blocks greeted citizens at polling stations across the five boroughs.
At PS 116 on 33rd Street off Third Avenue, the line stretched outside and all the way around to 32nd Street near Second Avenue.
“This has been an exciting election, it’s close. You feel like your vote is important because it’s so close. My vote will count,” said Staci McKeown, a 48-year-old graphic designer. “I don’t mind standing in the line for a half hour or more.”
It was a similar scene at MS 51 in Park Slope, Brooklyn, where voters endured two-block-long lines for the sake of democracy.
Allen and Leslie Goldschein were stunned by the huge crowd.
“He didn’t want to get in the line and I said, `Too bad, the time is now we’re here,’ ” the wife said. “I’m so ready for the election to be over and terrified at the same time.”
Allen tried to spin the crowded scene before him in a glass-half-full view of democracy.
“I’ve lived here for 15 years and I’ve never seen this line so long, but it’s (this level of interest in the race) a good thing,” he said.
A 45-minute wait didn’t dull the enthusiasm of Susan Greenberg, who wore a Clinton-inspired pantsuit to her polling station at PS 116 —joining ladies nationwide in an Election Day stunt.
“I’ve never missed an election in my life. This is the longest line I’ve ever seen, but I’m happy to stand in this line,” said Greenberg, hopeful of electing a woman to the nation’s highest office.
“I feel like I have voted for my mother, my aunts, my grandmothers.”
Mayor de Blasio waited 25 minutes to cast his ballot at a library in Park Slope
High turnout across the city and country should benefit Clinton, de Blasio said of his favored candidate.
“I really like what I’m seeing in terms of turnout so far around the city,” the mayor said.
“It’s a very good sign that people are so engaged, and it certainly augurs well for Hillary Clinton.”
New York state’s odd, multi -party ballot confounded newbie voters.
Clinton’s name, for example, appeared on lines for the Democratic, Working Families and Women’s Equality parties. Trump was listed on lines for the Republican and Conservative parties.
This apparently was akin to reading James Joyce for some novices, who didn’t realize that their vote would be counted no matter which party line their candidate’s name appeared.
Some ballots ended up with multiple checks for either Clinton or Trump, which didn’t scan and forced bewildered voters to redo their ballots.
“The candidates names were on there, like, eight times,” said one exasperated female voter at PS 140 on the Lower East Side.
Other delays were also caused by good old-fashioned incompetence.
While polls opened at 6 a.m. across the city, voters gathered at IS 174 in the Bronx couldn’t cast ballots until after 7:30 a.m.
Supplies for polling station volunteers were locked in boxes that the Board of Elections was supposed to have opened way before 6 a.m.
But no one from the board showed up until 7:15 to release the supplies.
Volunteer Shana Dawson, 22, said most voters were both miffed, but patient about the delay. “Some of them understood that it (the late opening) wasn’t our fault.”
Late openings plagued several locations throughout The Bronx.
But voters seemed willing to grin and bear it.
Nursing student Tiffany Williams, saddled with a half-hour wait at a polling station at 2059 McGraw Ave., said the delay wouldn’t deter her from voting for Clinton.
“I’m excited to vote for the (potential) first woman (president). She covers a lot issues that I care about,” said Williams, 30. “When I vote for her I’m looking toward the future.”
City Councilman Ben Kallos (D-Upper East Side) urged voters to call his office to report any voting malfunctions or incredibly long lines.
“At poll sites across the city, New Yorkers are reporting long lines,” said Kallos, chair of the City Council Committee on Governmental Operations, which oversees the Board of Elections, said in a prepared statement.
“The consolidation of poll sites crammed too many election districts into mega-poll sites and left New Yorkers waiting on mega-lines.”
The Empire State threw its Electoral College support behind Ronald Reagan in his 1984 re-election bid – but has gone to the Democratic nominee every election since.
Additional reporting by Rich Calder, Yoav Gonen and David K. Li