People are being put behind bars for voting! Photo: Drew Angerer/Getty Images

“New York likes to pride itself on being exceptional — and in the area of election administration, it is exceptionally behind,” Susan Lerner, the executive director of Common Cause NY, told New York this week. Lerner was talking about New York’s raft of retrograde voting policies, including the odd hours polls are open, a lack of early voting, and the difficulty of registering to vote in New York. The state also severely limits a voter’s ability to cast an absentee ballot.

All of these problems keep many people from even trying to vote, but even for those who managed to make it to the polls today to vote in primary races for state and local races, casting a ballot wasn’t as easy as it should be. Voters have shared stories of arriving at the polls and finding they’re not on voter rolls:

Guess who wasn’t on the rolls this morning at the polling place I’ve voted for four years? — Rebecca Traister (@rtraister) September 13, 2018

Had to assert my rights for the 1st time at a polling place today!Reminder: if you’re in the right place and not on the rolls, sign an affidavit and cast a provisional ballot. (For @CynthiaNixon and @ZephyrTeachout.) — jess mcintosh (@jess_mc) September 13, 2018

This happened to me too and I forced them to look at every book for every district and - surprise - they found me 👀 took a half hour. — Caroline Moss (@socarolinesays) September 13, 2018

Peeved that my wife and I were nowhere to be found on the voting roll this AM in Wash Heights, despite not changing our registrations and voting recently as last year. Someone really didn’t want my vote for @CynthiaNixon and @ZephyrTeachout 😡 — James Ryan (@jdryan08) September 13, 2018

Same thing happened to me! I also live in Washington Heights. They couldn't find my name, and I had to fill out the affidavit. I checked online last night, and I was registered. I even recieved a letter in the mail recently confirming my registration. WTF? — HEIGHTSENBERG (@Diego_San_Pedro) September 13, 2018

BdB says his son Dante went to vote, had his voter card from the BOE, but was not in the book and was not allowed to cast a normal ballot, had to fill in affidavit ballot. BdB is railing against the BOE, calling for change, professionalization, reforms passed in Albany in 2019. — Ben Max (@TweetBenMax) September 13, 2018

Others complained about learning, as they attempted to vote, that they’re not registered in the party they thought they were.

So after years of being registered as a dirty dem, I get to the voting place today and am informed I am now registered as a member of the Reform Party. And that I can’t vote. WEIRD. — Michael Ballaban (@Ballaban) September 13, 2018

Hey hey, who has two thumbs, tried to vote, and got told they were now registered as Reform Party? — Bo Bolander (@BBolander) September 13, 2018

reminder to pay attention when you get your ballot today



i was in the books as “reform party only” (unaffiliated with party) and had to ask for an affidavit ballot to vote democratic — larry fox (@_larryfox) September 13, 2018

I wasn’t able to vote today because my party had been mysteriously changed without my permission. I filled out an affidavit and hope my vote eventually counts but this is just a reminder that our voting systems are messed up no matter where you go. — Kea Krause (@KeaMKrause) September 13, 2018

The problem for the voters who were handed a Reform Party ballot above may have been that they were registered independents. The Reform Party allows all unaffiliated voters to participate in its primaries. “If you’re registered to vote, but not in a party, you’ll be given a Reform ballot,” Staten Island Reform Party chairman Frank Morano has tweeted many times this morning. “I think many people may mistakenly believe they’re registered Dem.”

Other voters appeared to be tripped up not by New York’s byzantine rules, but incompetent or deceitful poll workers.

It just happened to my wife in Northport. Had to vote by affidavit. I’m preparing for the same argument later. She registered as a democrat in May. They told her today that the change isn’t effective till nov 13th. — Newman (@mobilenewman) September 13, 2018

If you’re voting in Port Washington, beware. They told me I wasn’t on the rolls and to do an affidavit. I called the board of elections and found out that, in fact, I’d been sent to the wrong table. The poll workers said they’d given out tons of affidavits. Someone fucked up. — Stagger Lee Shot First (@elongreen) September 13, 2018

Yupppp. Sent me twice to an incorrect table. I finally pushed them aside, looked through their little name books myself, and checked for my name at literally all the tables until I found it. If it had been crowded I wouldn’t have been able to. — Kbear Harris 🗽 (@KbearHarris) September 13, 2018

These are but a few of the reasons voter turnout in New York is always among the worst in the nation.