Election Day in Brooklyn: Long Lines, Broken Scanners, Ditzy Staffers and More

BROOKLYN, NY — As soon as the polls began to open across New York City at 6 a.m. on Tuesday Nov. 8, a day that will go down in history as the day we let an orange meteor gouge our country of all human decency, social media exploded with reports of locked doors, broken ballot scanners and lines wrapping around the block.

Many of these problems died down by midday, only to re-surface during the after-work rush hour.

The NYC Board of Elections came under intense scrutiny for its botched performance during the Democratic presidential primary earlier this year — so much so, that New York's attorney general is currently running an investigation into "alleged improprieties at the polls."

By end of day on Nov. 8, the board's spokeswoman said she wouldn't be able to provide any details on what when wrong, and where and why, until after the election.

So, in place of official answers from our frazzled Board of Elections, below you'll find updates from average citizens and reporters on the ground on the voting experience in Brooklyn, poll site by poll site. (Heads up: If you don't see your assigned poll site on the list below, that's probably a good sign things were running at least relatively smoothly Tuesday.)

Got an complaint or two of your own to add? Reach out: simone.wilson@patch.com.

Bed-Stuy

Boys and Girls High School, 1700 Fulton St.: Twitter user Tevin Smith reported around 7 a.m. that the situation at Boys and Girls High was a "disaster" and a "nightmare," due to multiple broken scanners. Problems had apparently cleared up by noon, though; there was no line outside the school and no more reports of broken scanners.

Boerum Hill

Raices Times Plaza Senior Center, 460 Atlantic Ave.: Twitter user @ellielahali reported around 2:20 p.m. that a two-plus-hour line had built up at the senior center, and that people were "leaving because they can't get out of work" for that long. "Need more staff & books here ASAP," she wrote.

P.S. 38, 450 Pacific St: Locals were reportedly "irate" after P.S. 38 failed to open on time Tuesday morning, and no coordinator appeared to be on site to tell voters what was going on (video below). The line was backed up through the early-morning hours — New York Daily News photographer Todd Maisel called it "chaos." And at least one scanner still wasn't working by afternoon, according to Twitter reports.

Brooklyn Heights

P.S. 8, 37 Hicks St.: The school was reportedly still "packed" around 1:30 p.m., during the usual lull of Election Day. That said, you get to hang out with these cuties:

Brownsville

P.S. 401, 51 Christopher Ave.: Things were perhaps a little TOO slow-paced at this school. A couple different poll workers were caught sleeping at P.S. 401 during Election Day, according to DNAinfo. "She's supposed to be taking care of the polls, but she's asleep," Brownsville resident Reggienea Simpkins, 26, told the news site. "I don't know if that's going to hinder our election vote or not." Twitter user BKLAMMZ said another poll worker at P.S. 401 told him he could only vote for candidates from one party (which would only be true if this were a primary election).

Carroll Gardens

P.S. 142, 610 Henry St.: This school polling site was reportedly overflowing with voters by 11:30 a.m.

Carroll Gardens Library, 396 Clinton St., and P.S. 29, 425 Henry St. (Cobble Hill): Lines at both of these location have reportedly been backed up for blocks all day. Although that could have a little something to do with a nearby intersection: President St. and Clinton St. And things could only get worse, seeing as there's a block party planned at the intersection Tuesday from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m.

Crown Heights

P.S. 335, 130 Rochester Ave.: Twitter user @sarahoc reported around 8:30 a.m. that multiple ballot-scanning machines were down at P.S. 335 in the Weeksville area of Crown Heights, and that voters who couldn't afford to wait were filling out "emergency ballots" — aka, leaving their ballots in a box on site, to be processed later. Other neighbors told Patch that the polling site had such long lines all morning that they watched some voters leave out of frustration. "There was a long line," a retired resident named Ordia told Patch. "Some people got sent [to another polling site], then had to come back. I say they're trying to discourage you." However, when we arrived around 10 a.m., everything appeared to be operating normally.

P.S. 320/P.S. 375, 46 McKeever Place: Around 10 a.m., when Patch reporter Ryan Sartor voted at P.S. 320, "it was super disorganized," he said. It took him an hour to make his way through a couple different messy lines and fill out his ballot. "I think they were doing the best they could — there were just a lot of people," he said. "They seemed unprepared for the amount of people that there were."

Greenpoint

JHS 126, 424 Leonard St.: Neighbors said online Tuesday morning that they'd never seen voting lines as long as the ones near McCarren Park. Twitter user Alex Zucker said he waited an hour-and-a-half to vote.

I.S. 126, 424 Leonard St.: No reports of issues here, but DNAinfo did spot a 30-year-old female voter dressed up as 1990s-era Hillary Clinton, in a bright-red pantsuit and big black sunnies. Awesome.

Park Slope

P.S. 321, 180 7th Ave.: Twitter user Spotsey reported that the wait was so long (over an hour) at P.S. 321 during the morning rush, with one scanner down, that he or she had to leave. "I'll go back after work, but couldn't wait any longer!" Spotsey said.

P.S. 133, 610 Baltic St.: At least one scanner reportedly broke down at P.S. 133 early Tuesday, but the real evil was a shortage of "I Voted" stickers — brought on, according to DNAinfo, by Park Slope parents handing out extras to their kids. How Park Slope is that?

Park Slope Library, 431 6th Ave.: NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio and his wife voted to much fanfare at (where else?) the Park Slope Library early Tuesday morning. Seemed to go pretty smoothly after a brief wait.

Prospect-Lefferts Gardens

P.S. 91, 532 Albany Ave.: Twitter user Hannah Sheehan live-tweeted her two-and-a-half-hour headache of a voting experience at P.S. 91, beginning at 6 a.m. Tuesday. She complained of missing voter books and ballots; fed-up voters leaving for work with no idea when they would be able to come back; and, on top of it all, broken ballot scanners. (Some of her observations are included below.) The delay was reportedly caused in part by the fact that a whole bunch of voter books and ballots slated for P.S. 91 were mistakenly delivered to a different polling site — and deterred many people from voting. By noon, though, the line was gone and all that was left of the morning's chaos was a row of TV news cameras set up on the sidewalk. Police at the polling site, apparently fed up by all the attention, told a Patch reporter he couldn't come within 100 feet of the voting area.

P.S. 92, 601 Parkside Ave.: A local nonprofit reported two-hour waits and three out of five scanners broken at P.S. 92 in the early-morning hours. (The Twitter user who shot the video below, too, said she waited two hours.) The line was still pretty hefty by noontime, but the scanners had been fixed, according to DNAinfo reporter Rachel H. Smith.

Silver Houses, 828 Midwood St.: According to DNAinfo, voters who showed up at 6 a.m. said they couldn't cast their ballots yet, due in part to a "lack of voting machines and incorrect paperwork." They also reported bad signage and workers who didn't know how to tear ballots correctly. Denise Clarke told the news site: "This is a very important opportunity, and when they start with the shenanigans at 7 in the morning, what does that mean?”