Why was it so difficult to vote on Primary Day? David Greenfield, an attorney and community advocate, launched an investigation (as reported exclusively HERE on YWN) to find out. Mr. Greenfield received over one hundred complaints from registered voters who were denied the opportunity to vote in September’s Primary Election. After an extensive investigation, Greenfield discovered that over one thousand people in Boro Park and Flatbush who tried voting on machines on Primary Day were turned away.  More than 1,100 people were forced to vote on affidavit paper ballots, but countless others were not given any opportunity to vote.

Greenfield spent Primary Election Day as a volunteer election lawyer working from 5:00 AM to 10:00 PM to make sure that every single registered voter could vote and that every vote was counted. “One of the fundamental principles of our democratic society is that every single vote should count,” said Greenfield. “While traveling from poll site to poll site on Primary Day in order to ensure that our community’s votes were counted, I heard an unprecedented number of complaints from community voters who were denied the opportunity to vote,” Greenfield explained.

As a result, Greenfield commenced an investigation to make certain that every single vote was counted. The results of the investigation were shocking. “It’s simply incomprehensible that more than a thousand people had problems voting on Primary Day,” Greenfield said. “Government needs to fix the system and make sure that this never happens again.”

Greenfield cited three specific problems that need to be resolved. First, hundreds of people were sent postcards by the Board of Elections indicating that they had a primary when, in fact, this year there was no primary in their particular district. Second, many people who had not voted in the last four years were placed on an “inactive” list and were therefore purged from the voter lists. Finally, there were some registered voters who were not on the voter rolls for a variety of reasons including wrong party enrollment.

All told, Greenfield identified hundreds of people who were forced to vote by affidavit paper ballot, when they should have actually been eligible to vote by machine. “I am gratified that we were able to ensure that hundreds of paper votes were counted,” Greenfield said. “I will continue to work with the Board of Elections to ensure that every single vote in our community counts.”

Greenfield, who noted that many of the problems voters faced on Primary Day have been resolved, urged every registered to vote on Election Day, November 4, 2008. Greenfield pointed out that it’s not too late to register to vote. The registration deadline for the Presidential Election is Friday, October 10, 2008. In addition, Greenfield asked that if anyone encounters a problem voting on Election Day, they should immediately call the disenfranchised voter hotline at (347) 562-1224. Greenfield has generously agreed to volunteer his legal services to do everything he can to fix voting problems on Election Day.

(YWN Desk – NYC)