Results tagged “election”

Mayor Michael Bloomberg won his controversial third term by beating Comptroller William Thompson by a much smaller than predicted margin. See the updates below for how the election night unfolded.

This tweet from Laura Holder just caught our eye: "Seen at polling station (e.g. grade school): 1 man, over-6-foot tall, towering, 100% naked. Number of police: 12. Number of police cars: 4." The Local also heard about the naked man, and a volunteer for Bill Thompson says he saw the unidentified man near PS 56 in Clinton Hill, which was closed for Election Day. The volunteer says the man approached "talking all kinds of crazy stuff — he said he was a direct pure-blood descendant of Jesus." (Sounds like a Rev. Billy voter?)

It's Election Day and polls in NYC have been open since 6 a.m. and will close at 9 p.m. You can find your polling site here.

There are big elections tomorrow, but the most interesting race might take place in a tiny NJ town that'll be voting on its name for the fifth time since 1989. Woodland Park, population 11,000, received its outdoorsy name last year, but will decide whether or not to reinstate the community's old name, West Paterson. The pro-Woodland Park contingent says the new moniker helps distance the town from the stigma of poorer neighbor, Paterson, while the pro-West Paterson folks claim the name Woodland Park betrays the community's history and "sounds like a cemetery," according to the Times. Currently, the town is stuck between both names: The official website welcomes visitors to the "Borough of Woodland Park" with the URL www.westpaterson.com

The Rent is Too Damn High Party just cannot catch a break. Besides being shockingly omitted from last night's debate, Mayoral candidate Jimmy McMillan has had to stand by and watch the Board of Elections cut the d-word from his party's name, stripping it of all its cachet. And now an internal rift in the party has forced McMillan to turn his back on the Rent Is Too Damn High nominee for comptroller—and instead endorse his Democratic rival.

With just under 4 weeks to go before the mayoral election, Mayor Bloomberg and City Comptroller William Thompson will march in the Fifth Avenue Columbus Day parade today. And tomorrow is their first debate—some veterans have suggestions (Mark Green to Thompson: ""Don't try for a knockout, because it can't happen"). Thompson skipped two parades yesterday (Bloomberg was at the Bronx Columbus Day Parade and the Hispanic Day Parade in Manhattan), apparently to prepare for the debate.

Yesterday's primary election had the lowest turnout in history. Overall, less than 400,000 registered voters headed to the polls. According to the AP, the mayoral matchup between Democrats City Comptroller William Thompson and City Councilman Tony Avella was really low: "About 10 percent of New York City's 3.1 million registered Democrats came out to vote in the contest, where just two candidates were competing."

According to the results going up at NY1, Bill Thompson scored a landslide victory over his opponents in the race for the Democratic mayoral nomination, leading Tony Avella by more than fifty percent. In other races, it looks like no one has reached the coveted 40% mark for Public Advocate or Comptroller— so you can look forward to a run-off election on September 29th. John Liu is currently in the lead for the Comptroller nod, with 38% to David Yassky's 30%. And in a surprising upset, Bill de Blasio has a 2% lead over Mark Green in the Public Advocate race, with 95% of the precincts reporting. In the battle for Manhattan District Attorney, Cyrus Vance, D.A. Robert Morgenthau's preferred successor, easily beat Leslie Crocker Snyder 43% to 30%. In City Council race news, Alan Gerson appears to have lost District 1 to Margaret Chin, and Steve Levin seems to have scored a victory over a crowded field in District 33, which represents parts of Brooklyn Heights, Williamsburg, and Greenpoint. More tomorrow!

If you live in the 21st District (in Queens), 32nd District (also in Queens), or 49th District (in Staten Island), it's time for you to vote for a new City Council member! If your City Council members were once Hiram Monserrate, Joseph Addabbo, or Michael McMahon (all of whom have moved onto higher office), you can vote—or out what City Council district you live in here. Polls are open until 9 p.m. and the NY Times explains why the candidates will appear without party affiliations on the ballots. Oh, and those voting in Staten Island will have to deal with paper ballots, because of the "last minute" reinstatement of a candidate.

While millions across New York City were celebrating Barack Obama's election victory on November 4th, a group of young Staten Island men went on a violent rampage that left two young black men beaten and another man in a coma, prosecutors say. Three of the alleged attackers were arraigned in Federal District Court in Brooklyn today and charged with conspiracy to interfere with voting rights in their efforts to "injure, oppress, threaten and intimidate" black people on election night, the Times reports. Each plead not guilty.

We have our own protracted election drama in the city: The Board of Elections is still counting ballots in the State Senate race between incumbent Frank Padavan (R) and City Councilman James Gennaro (D). Padavan leads by over 500 votes now, but now over 8,000 absentee and emergency paper ballots are being tallied amid charges from the Democratic Party like how the Republicans are only challenging votes of minority voters. (A judge will eventually decided what happens with the ballot.) Well, at least our BOE doesn't have to deal with the Senate recount in Minnesota--they use Scantron-style voting forms and some voters were messy-- or wrote in "Lizard People" while still filling in a circle for Al Franken. See the zany ballots here.

While some revelers in the East Village were celebrating Tuesday night by dancing on top of buses, Obama supporters at Soda Bar in Prospect Heights were getting all naked for change. Well, for Spencer Tunick, famed photographer of naked mobs. According to Daily Intel, "just when CNN was getting ready to call Ohio, a waitress turned off the volume, stood on a chair and made a surprising announcement: 'You thought you were here for an election-night party, but really you are here for a naked party!'" How come the parties we go to never feature such announcements? In this case, some guests were more willing than others, with Intel reporting that a Hasidic man with long sideburns and beard was surprisingly eager to strip down to his yarmulke. Good for him—we're just glad Tunick wasn't photographing a naked McCain party.

If you think John McCain's defeat Tuesday means you no longer have to hear the word "maverick" every five minutes, think again! The Associated Press reports that "four maverick New York City lawmakers" are refusing to back a member of their own party, Malcolm A. Smith, for majority leader, after over four decades of Republican control of the State Senate. Three of the four holdouts are Latino legislators who feel Latinos have been underrepresented in leadership roles in government, so yesterday they met with GOP leaders to discuss how they could serve the GOP and what’s in it for them should they defect.

17-year-old Ali Kamara, a black Muslim, was walking home on Staten Island Tuesday night after it was announced that Barack Obama was elected president when he was brutally assaulted by four white men. Kamara tells the Daily News: "I see the car coming. They looked at me and said, 'Obama!' They were not happy. They had hoodies on. They started hitting me with bats and my body started vibrating." Luckily, Kamara was able to break away and hide until the thugs left; his mother, who moved with Ali to Staten Island from Liberia in 2000, showed the News a bloody towel she used to staunch his wounds. An NYPD spokesman says the department's Hate Crime Task Force is investigating the incident as a bias crime. And Kamara says he heard his assailants scream the word "Obama!" but not any other racial or religious slurs, so it could be the bullies just mistook Kamara for the new President-Elect.

In addition to approving a measure that loosens restrictions on embryonic stem cell research, Michigan voters also approved a medical marijuana ballot measure yesterday by an overwhelming majority, voting 63% to 37% to remove state-level penalties for registered patients using marijuana. But unlike other states such as California, the bill won't create legal dispensaries for the drug. Of course, not every one was for it: 20-year-old poindexter Claire Luczak, an uptight junior at the University of Michigan, said she voted against the proposal because "it would be too easy to get it. I know hundreds of people who smoke pot, and I think people would get it for recreational use and not legitimate reasons." And yesterday Massachusetts voters approved a marijuana decriminalization proposition that will make getting caught with less than an ounce of pot punishable by a civil fine of $100. [Hat tip Camera Club.]

For the first time since 1965, Democrats have taken control of the New York State Senate, sweeping into the majority last night on President-elect Barack Obama's coattails. All the incumbent Democrats held on to their seats, and two longtime GOP incumbents lost: Queens Republican Serphin Maltese lost to Democratic City Councilman Joseph Addabbo and Suffolk County's Caesar Trunzo lost to Democratic challenger Brian Foley. Maltese blamed his defeat on "the Obama craze" and said he hopes "that sanity prevails with what is now the Senate minority, and then in two years, hopefully, we'll take another shot at them."

The polls open at 6 a.m. statewide tomorrow, and given the recent concern about whether the NYC Board of Elections is prepared for an anticipated massive voter turnout, you might want to consider voting early. Polls close at 9 p.m., and you can check your voting location here or by calling 1-866-VOTE-NYC. In New Jersey, polls open at 6 a.m. and close at 8 p.m; you can look up your polling place here. Polls in Connecticut are also open during the same hours as Jersey.

After months and months (practically ) of politicking, Senators John McCain and Barack Obama are entering the final hours of their presidential campaigns. Both candidates visited battleground states over the weekend in hopes of ensuring a victory tomorrow.

Woah, can you believe the election is only four days away? And even though that Obama has been busy making sure the drapes match the carpet in the Oval Office, a Fox News poll shows the two candidates almost tied! So if you want to volunteer to support the candidate of your choice—whether it be the bitter old warmonger on death's door and his demagogic running mate, or the most inspiring, perspicacious American politician in generations—here are some ways you can get involved.

Over the weekend Rock the Vote was accused by the New York Times of botching the registration of possibly 40,000 would-be New York voters. According to the article, the online registration forms for New Yorkers on Rock the Vote's website are addressed to the New York State Board of Elections, which does not handle voter registrations. As a result, the Board of Elections has had to redirect over 100,000 forms to the county election boards, and now there's a huge backlog. Today Rock the Vote is firing back at the Times, declaring in a statement that "they got the story dead wrong":

Twice in writing the Board of Elections confirmed that Rock the Vote gives registrants the correct mailing address. See the emails here. And today, the EAC again confirmed that our system is "current and correct."...A modest journalistic effort would have revealed what Rock The Vote has been warning for some time: elections officials nationwide are not prepared to process the enormous number of new voter registrations that have been submitted in this election cycle.

Last night, it was confirmed that Democratic candidate Barack Obama's camp bought 30 minutes of national primetime on CBS and NBC to air on October 29 at 8 p.m. His campaign is also negotiating with ABC as well as Fox, which could have a conflict if there is a Game 6 of the World Series.

Meet Richard Ivory: New Yorker, blogger, black man, and John McCain supporter. He also works as a counselor to mentally ill patients, but he himself is not mentally ill—he just doesn't want another tax-and-spend Democrat to undo the proud achievements of George Bush, even if said Democrat would, you know, be America's first black president. Today the Times takes a look at what it's like to be a black Republican for John McCain living in liberal elitist New York City. Ivory (not pictured here) says he's gotten used being called "Uncle Tom, sellout, self-hater," and isn't even upset about that time a white man confronted him and a black friend at the 2004 Republican Convention to warn them that "protesters were not welcome." He tells the Times, "I always say my heart is with Obama but my brain is with McCain."

        

Finally: Presidential candidates John McCain and Barack Obama squared off against each other in the first debate last night. (Here's a transcript; video of full debate after the jump.) The debate's focus was on foreign policy, but moderator Jim Lehrer opened with a 1952 Dwight Eisenhower quote, "We must achieve both security and solvency. In fact, the foundation of military strength is economic strength," as a way to ask the candidates about their points of view on the economy recovery plan (also known as the bailout). Eventually, both said they felt a plan would be passed (they spent much of the time initially trying to boost their economic visions), but didn't really commit to supporting it.

If you're a registered Democrat or Republican, you can head to your voting location to cast your vote in primary elections in your district. There are a number of hotly contested seats (here's a list of candidates PDF): Real World alum Kevin Powell is hoping to usurp longtime Representative Edolphus Towns in Brooklyn, City Council members Simcha Felder and Kendall Stewart are hoping for Kevin Parker's State Senate seat in Brooklyn, Daniel Squadron challenging State Senator Martin Connor in Manhattan and Paul Newell to looking to defeat Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, also in Manhattan.

Yesterday, presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama decided to forgo public financing for his general election campaign, seemingly reneging on his earlier statement that he would receive public financing if the Republican nominee did, too.

Last week's special election to fill the vacated 30th Council District seat was a close one and suggested that Republican Anthony Como won. Como had led Democrat Elizabeth Crowley by 70 votes; an official announcement of the winner will be made this week, after the Board of Elections counts hundreds of absentee ballots and certifies the findings.

Yesterday, Queens residents in the City Council district represented by City Councilman Dennis Gallagher went to the polls to decide who will replace him until a November election. Right now, it seems like Republican candidate Anthony Como is leading, but only 70 votes separate him from Democrat Elizabeth Crowley.

The 20-member New York Times editorial board nearly endorsed Barack Obama for president, but ultimately Times chairman and publisher Arthur Sulzberger Jr. pushed through a Clinton endorsement, anonymous sources have told The New Republic. The behind-the-scenes article echoes conjecture from New York Magazine that Sulzberger’s BFF gym buddy Steven Rattner, a major Clinton donor and former Times reporter, may have been the deciding factor.