Brooklyn NAACP Challenges Ban On Giving Water To Waiting Voters

NEW YORK CITY — A New York State law that hands out prison sentences and fines to election day volunteers who hand out bottles of water and pizza slices now faces a challenge in civil court from the NAACP, records show.

The civil rights organization's Brooklyn branch filed suit Tuesday against the city's Board of Elections to contest the legality of New York's "Line Warming Ban," Manhattan federal court records show.

"Varying poll hours, inconsistent distribution of poll sites, and disproportionate voter assignments often result in unbearably long lines to vote," the lawsuit states.

"If left in effect the Ban will make it harder—and, in some cases, impossible—for the elderly, disabled, minorities, and poorer communities to exercise their right to vote."

A press representative from the city's election board did not immediately respond to Patch's request for comment.

This challenge to the ban — which makes it illegal to provide voters refreshment worth more than $1 — follows an election year that saw New Yorkers waiting up to four hours in poll site lines.

State voting law that mandates the BOE restrict waiting times to 30 minutes, yet even the mayor of New York City waited hours to cast his ballot, the suit notes.

"Those who did brave the lines waited for hours to vote in person ... were often left hungry, thirsty, or in pain from standing for such long periods of time," the complaint reads.

"Mayor Bill de Blasio complained of back pain after waiting for three hours to vote in his Brooklyn neighborhood."

The ban has been on New York's books since 1976 and makes it a misdemeanor crime — punishable by a year in prison or a $1,000 fine — to provide would-be voters "meat, drink, tobacco, refreshment or provision," state records show.

Proponents of the law argue it prevents political groups from inappropriately influencing voters about to cast a ballot.

While the law allows volunteers to supply would-be voters with refreshment worth less than a dollar, the suit argues that, in a city where New Yorkers can pay $1,000 for a bagel, the $1 cap has become arbitrary at best.

"The State cannot justify why, under the Ban, providing a candy bar is acceptable but providing a bottle of water or a slice of pizza is a criminal offense," the suit states.

At worst, the ban punishes voters from poorer neighborhoods and communities of color, the suit contends, pointing to a New York Times analysis of the 2020 presidential election that found poor and non-white voters waited in line longer than those in whiter, wealthier neighborhoods.

"While poll lines are an inconvenience for some, for others they are exclusionary obstacles," the suit states.

The Brooklyn NAACP branch is not alone in raising concerns about the effect of the law.

When Georgia passed a similar ban in March, President Joe Biden called it "Jim Crow in the 21st Century."