UES Lawmakers Ask To Move Voting From These Local Schools

UPPER EAST SIDE, NY — Local lawmakers on the Upper East Side have a message for election officials: Stop the vote.

Well, at least at these three Upper East Side schools on election day, according to a new letter penned by City Council Member Julie Menin.

The letter was sent Wednesday to the New York City Board of Elections, and asks for the board to relieve the burden cause by using the schools during the early voting period.

Using the schools as voting locations, Menin's letter reads, "is extremely disruptive to students, as many portions of their buildings and after-school programs are severely impacted from their intended purpose."

Parents and lawmakers across the city — including on the Upper West Side — have called for early voting to be relocated from public schools in recent years.

And it turns out, according to Menin, the most "overloaded" early voting site in all of New York City was Robert F. Wagner Middle School on East 76th Street.

The middle school had nearly 120,000 voters assigned to vote there alone, Menin said.

The letter also raises concerns about safety and security, as does one parent at Wagner Middle School.

"Please tell me where else in the country schools are used as voting sites, for thirty-three days, with students and staff inside, and with no additional screening or security," said Kindra Hall, who currently has two kids at the school.

The school's gym is used as the early voting location, Hall said, and instead of exercising and socializing with friends during their Physical Education classes, her daughter's class sits in the auditorium for an hour.

"You can't talk about how important exercise and socialization is for adolescents, especially after lockdowns and isolation, and then take away the only space they have to exercise and play as teams," Hall said.

Menin's office also calls for the city's Board of Elections to find alternative sites for two additional schools in her district: the High School of Art and Design on East 56th Street, and Eleanor Roosevelt High School on East 76th Street.

Suggested early voting sites in the letter include:

● Hunter College - 695 Park Ave.

● Marymount Manhattan College - 221 E 71st St.

● Frick Madison - 945 Madison Ave.

● Lenox Hill Neighborhood House - 331 E 70th St.

● The Metropolitan Museum of Art -1000 5th Ave.

● 92nd Street Y - 1395 Lexington Ave.

● Asphalt Green - 555 E 90th St.

The letter was also signed by other Upper East Side elected officials, including Rep. Jerry Nadler, Council Member Keith Powers, State Senator Liz Krueger, and Assembly Members Rebecca Seawright and Alex Bores.