NEW YORK (WCBS 880) — The New York City Board of Elections voted on Tuesday to extend early voting housing on Friday, Saturday and Sunday.
BOE Secretary Frederic Umane announced early voting in the city will take place from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Friday and Saturday and 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Sunday. Though, the change will only take effect at polling sites where it is deemed practical.
“It is our intention to do it, but we may not have the ability to do it for all sites, but that’s what we’re going to try to do,” Umane said.
The change comes after New Yorkers had to wait hours on line at some locations for early voting.
On Monday, some reported waiting at least 2 hours to cast their ballots.
While lines were long, John Conklin with the Board of Elections said there were few, if any, technical difficulties across the state.
On Tuesday, he told WCBS 880 that while the lines are long now, that shouldn’t be the case on Election Day.
“Unfortunately, early voting is not intended to be a substitute for Election Day it's supposed to be a supplement to Election Day, so while all the boards in the state have devoted additional sites more than the statutory requirement it's not going to be comparable to Election Day,” Conklin said.
Currently there are only 287 polling locations opened statewide, but on Election Day, there will be over 5,200. Conklin says there will also be 15 hours to cast a ballot, as opposed to the smaller time frame currently.
In the meantime, early voting locations are trying to get creative with people’s waits.
In Westchester County, wait times have been three to four hours at the voting site in Greenburgh Town Hall.
To help with the wait, the town brought in food trucks, began offering flu shots and provided some entertainment.
Though, some said they don’t mind the wait if it means doing their civic duty.
Alisa Butterfast, who lost her husband in December, said she was happy to wait with the 11 friends she encouraged to come as well.
“I decided I’ll do something really positive and go vote on his birthday. And I mentioned it to a few friends and then it sort of grew and people wanted in and it's so nice that everyone wants to do something positive and support me. It was just an idea, instead me sort of curled up on the couch being sad, this was a way to make the day something really positive and empowering,” she tells WCBS 880.
For the crowds of early voters, the town has also planned additional activities this weekend, including live music performances and yoga instruction.
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