ALBANY — Mary Woods, a real estate manager in Greenwich Village, is a Democrat in Manhattan, where there are six Democratic votes for every Republican.
There, her ballot is a drop in a very blue bucket.
That was part of her recent decision to switch her registration to vote in a region where Republicans have an enrollment advantage. She has a home in Pine Plains, about 90 miles north of New York City.
“There’s a gazillion people who vote like me in New York City,” Woods said. “There’s not so many up here.”
These weekend and holiday upstaters helped seal a narrow win in March by newcomer Democrat Scott Murphy in the 20th Congressional District, a traditionally Republican district stretching from Dutchess County to near the Canadian border.
Records show at least 153 New Yorkers actively registered in both New York City and at their upstate homes voted in the 20th Congressional District’s special election in March, 76 percent of whom were enrolled Democrats, according to elections records obtained by The Associated Press. Nearly 250 more in the district are actively registered upstate and down, but didn’t vote in that particular election.
It’s illegal to be registered in two places at once, but the state Board of Elections said it probably happens because New York City boroughs are behind on eliminating voters from the city database after they switch their registration.
The board said people are legally required to vote from their primary residence, but that’s not clearly defined.
After a monthlong count, Murphy won by 726 votes out of more than 160,000 cast in the 20th district. It has 70,000 more enrolled Republicans than Democrats.
New York’s Republican party has grown more concerned about these so-called imported votes with each passing election as its influence wanes.
The effect of the exported New York City Democratic vote is magnified in rural Republican towns, like picturesque Pine Plains, where Pine Plains United, a community group, has reached out to New York City voters with homes in the area, encouraging them to move their vote upstate.