Special Report on the Election Day Operations of the New York City Board of Elections

Executive Summary

The New York City Board of Elections (BOE) was established under the New York State Election Law, Section 3-200(1) and pursuant to that law is responsible for, among other things: selecting poll sites; recruiting, training, and assigning election personnel; maintaining, repairing, and deploying election equipment; operating poll sites; counting and verifying the election results (canvassing); and reviewing original voting records to check the accuracy of the vote totals (recanvassing).

BOE consists of 10 commissioners—two from each of the five Boroughs—who equally represent the two major political parties and are appointed by the New York City Council for terms of four years. BOE appoints an Executive Director and Deputy Executive Director to oversee operations, hire employees to staff its main office and five borough offices (one in each borough), and hire poll workers to staff election events. The five borough offices are each staffed with a bipartisan Chief Clerk and Deputy Chief Clerk who are responsible for overseeing staff and activities which include, among other things, accounting for election materials and staffing poll sites.

When administering elections, BOE must comply with federal and New York State Election Law and its own procedures including The Board of Elections in the City of New York Canvass/Recanvass Procedures, the BOE Basic Poll Worker Manual, and the BOE Coordinator Manual.

We conducted this review to determine whether BOE complied with applicable laws, rules, regulations, and policies and procedures for Election Day operations.

Findings and Conclusions

Based on our review of BOE’s records and our observations for the 2019 General Election, BOE generally did not comply with federal and New York State Election Law and its own procedures for Election Day operations. Among other things, we found that BOE failed to document that it accounted for poll site election materials, including scanned ballots and affidavit ballots. In addition, we found deficiencies in BOE’s poll site staffing (including interpreters), equipment, accessibility, and the suitability of poll site locations.

In particular, we found that BOE did not document that it received election materials from 989 of the 1,247 poll sites (79.3 percent) that it operated on Election Day. In addition, we found that bipartisan staff did not review Election Night Police/Peace Officer Delivery Receipts for accuracy and sign to verify the items being delivered in 94 instances as required by its own procedures.

We also found that BOE poll sites were not adequately and appropriately staffed because: (1) BOE did not fill poll worker positions or replace poll workers who did not report to work; (2) BOE did not appropriately assign interpreters to poll sites to provide bilingual assistance to minority groups; (3) BOE did not equally distribute poll workers between the major political parties; and (4) BOE poll workers did not follow voting procedures and behaved inappropriately. Further, BOE did not provide us with documentation to show that poll workers received required training.

In addition, we found that BOE poll sites were not properly equipped, accessible, and suitable and safe. Furthermore, BOE staff did not always accurately report poll site supply and accessibility issues on checklists. Consequently, management and other stakeholders may not be aware of the above-mentioned supply and accessibility issues and take appropriate corrective action for future elections.

Recommendations

To address these issues, we make a total of 23 recommendations, including that the BOE should:

• Ensure that borough office Chief Clerks and Deputy Chief Clerks review Election Night Police/Peace Officer Delivery Receipts from the 2019 General Election to determine whether any election records are missing and, if so, immediately attempt to recover any missing items;
• Ensure that borough office staff comply with The Board of Elections in the City of New York Canvass/Recanvass Procedures for accounting for election materials including, but not limited to: completing and signing the Election Night Police/Peace Officer Delivery Receipt listing all items dropped off by the officer; placing a checkmark in the relevant column for all materials received; reviewing the receipt for accuracy; and signing to confirm that the officer and bipartisan Board staff agree on the items being delivered;
• Explore all options and continue to expand its outreach efforts to recruit additional poll workers;
• Continue to expand its outreach efforts to recruit additional interpreters to ensure that it provides bilingual assistance to voters in accordance with Section 203 of the Federal Voting Rights Act;
• Equally distribute poll workers between the two major political parties;
• Verify that poll workers and coordinators receive appropriate training and pass exams each year;
• Review Coordinator Journals to identify poll workers that do not comply with guidelines, rules, and procedures; take appropriate corrective action; and if necessary, prohibit poll workers from working future elections;
• Test equipment prior to deployment to ensure that it is functioning properly, including but not limited to, poll books, cradlepoints, and ballot scanners;
• Ensure that Voting Equipment Operations Unit-Poll Site Division (VEOU) staff and supervisory staff accurately complete ED Supply Cart Checklists to ensure that poll sites are receiving the supplies and resources necessary to conduct the election;
• Take all necessary steps to fully comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA);
• Review ADA Checklists, Accessibility Complaint Logs, Coordinator Journals, and call center logs for the 2019 General Election to identify poll site accessibility issues and take corrective actions to rectify reported issues;
• Remind poll site Coordinators and Accessibility Clerks to report all accessibility issues on the ADA Checklist; and
• Select alternative poll sites for any sites found to be unsuitable or unsafe including, but not limited to, poll sites located within businesses which are licensed to sell alcohol and poll sites that are not located on the main or ground floor.

Discussion of Results

The matters covered in this report were discussed with BOE officials during this review and at the conclusion of this review on February 20, 2020. A preliminary draft report was sent to BOE on March 6, 2020. A formal exit conference was scheduled to be held on March 9, 2020 to provide BOE an additional opportunity to discuss the preliminary draft report findings. BOE officials declined to meet on that date or on alternative dates thereafter. BOE informed us that it currently lacks the resources to meet with us and respond to the preliminary draft report findings because it is preparing for several upcoming elections and may need to change its Election Day Operations in response to COVID-19.

In light of the foregoing, we are submitting this special report to BOE so that it will have adequate time to review the findings and recommendations and appropriately consider them.