As i write this, it’s 6:30 p.m. on School Board Election Day, May 21, 2024. I got home from work at about 4:30 and immediately walked the five blocks to the place where i ALWAYS vote: South Middle School. Polling is open till 9 p.m., so i had plenty of time. It was very hot out, but i have had a tradition of walking to my polling place ever since i cast my first ballot, in 1968.
When i got to SMS, i had a sick feeling because there was no sandwich board in the parking lot saying, “VOTE HERE” or, “VOTE TODAY,” as there usually is on election day. When I went to the front door i always go in to vote, i found it was locked. I thought that perhaps the voting booths were around back, in the gym, as they have been on occasionally over the years (for reasons never explained to us voters). But i didn’t go around back, because there was a sign in black type on a yellow background, in 2 languages, with a border of blue painter’s tape, affixed to the front door, saying (SEE PHOTO): “POLLING PLACE CHANGE! CITY OF NEWBURGH DEMOCRATS AND REPUBLICANS! YOUR POLLING PLACE HAS BEEN CHANGED: SUNY ORANGE KAPLAN HALL, 73 1ST STREET. THIS POLLING PLACE CHANGE IS PERMANENT! For more information call the Board of Elections, 845-360-6500.”
i have never failed to vote in an election in my life. To me, it’s the most important right (and privilege) of those living in a democracy. My grampa didn’t come to this country in steerage so that i could fail to vote. There was no way i was going to fail to vote. So i kept on walking. i walked from SMS, on one of the southernmost properties in Newburgh, all the way to SUNY Orange, on the north side of town. Oh, i forgot to mention: It was about 85 degrees out.
When i got to SUNY Orange, the security guard laughingly asked, “Are you here to vote?” “Yes,” i smiled back at him. “Well,” he said, “I’m sorry to tell you this, but you are now the…” (here he looked down at a piece of paper on his desk) “… 22nd person to come here trying to vote, and there’s no voting booths here.”
Stunned, i told him about the sign at SMS. “Yeah, i heard about that, but that sign is wrong. This is not a polling location,” he said.
Here’s a funny thing that happened about four days ago: A pair of young men (one Black, one Latino) came to my yard as i was gardening and handed me a colorful card promoting four School Board candidates (three of whom are incumbents). It said, basically, “Don’t forget to vote,” but it didn’t say where. I asked them if they knew where my polling place would be. i now believe they thought they were in Ward 1, not Ward 2, because they said, “Yes, because of your location, you vote at the Heritage Center.” i was pretty sure i knew where they meant, but i don’t call it that. “You mean the Old Court House?”
“Yeah,” they replied, “across from the Library.” Well, this couldn’t be right, because my house is located, like SMS, in the southernmost end of the city, and the Heritage Center, like SUNY and the Library, is in the northern part. “Hmm…that’s funny,” i said. “Are you sure? Because that’s awfully far from here, and i always vote at South Middle School.”
“Yes! You vote at the Heritage Center,” they said.
So, back to today’s fustercluck: In desperation, i asked the security guard at SUNY if he knew where i’m supposed to vote, and he suggested, “Maybe Horizons-on-Hudson Elementary? Or, the Heritage Center? Or, the Library?” The closest to me of those three buildings — just a few blocks farther north — was the Library, so i went there. A young woman at the desk informed me that the Library was NOT a polling place. She showed me a sheet of paper in front of her that said Ward 2 voters should go to SMS. Somehow, i refrained from blowing my brains out.
God bless her, after i told her about the sign, she made several calls to both the Board of Education and the Orange County Board of Elections, but got no answer at either number (it was now long after 5 p.m). But she kept trying and finally she said that “someone” told her that there was no such sign as the one i’d described, and that i should return to the SMS “and try around back.” She said she believed me about the sign, though, and that the “someone” she’d spoken with said “someone” would be there in “about 15 minutes” to rip the sign down.
i walked as fast as i could back to SMS, hoping against hope that i would get a photo of the sign before it was removed. It took me about 25 minutes (bad knee), but when i got there, there it was! i took this rather poor photo of it (sun-glare, my own reflection showing) and, rather than just head home (a cold beer was calling me quite loudly at this point), i decided to “go around back” just for the heck of it anyway.
Guess what! After passing at least three locked doors, i came to one plain, totally unmarked door looking for all the world like the door to a janitorial closet. It was unlocked! And inside were … people! Four or five election workers were there, and when they innocently asked, “How you doing?” i gave them quite an earful. Not one of them believed me about the sign until i showed them the photo, and for some reason (probably i was having a stroke) i couldn’t make them understand what i meant by “the front door.” One nice lady walked with me around to the front door, where the sign (thank you, God) remained taped. She took it down immediately.
Still, after all that, i can’t help wondering how many more than 22 Newburgh residents were discouraged from voting today. And OK, i’ll go ahead and say it: I also can’t help wondering if “some” people actually didn’t want us to vote.
