At least three Big Apple election sites told voters they didn’t have Republican ballots for New York’s primary race Tuesday, as thousands headed to the polls to cast their vote for governor, The Post has learned.
One voter, Ed Gavin, 62, arrived at his Bronx polling site in Spuyten Duyvil around 8:15 a.m. to cast his vote for GOP gubernatorial candidate Rob Astorino but after checking in with a poll worker, he was handed a Democratic ballot instead, he said.
“My party never came up, my political preferences were never discussed … I opened the sleeve and I saw the names of Tom Suozzi, Kathy Hochul and Jumaane Williams. These were all Democrats for governor,” Gavin, a retired Department of Correction deputy warden, told The Post.
“I flipped it over because I thought maybe the Republicans were on the back but there were no Republicans.”
Gavin was incredulous and went back to the poll worker to inform them he’d been given the wrong ballot.
“They told me ‘we don’t have any Republican ballots,’” Gavin recalled.
“I said to the gentleman, ‘that is very concerning.’”
The Post later visited the polling site and confirmed with a worker that Republican ballots were unavailable to voters earlier in the morning.
“We couldn’t find the ballots earlier, but we have them now,” the worker said.
Gavin was furious over the debacle, calling it “disenfranchisement.”
“This is the most important gubernatorial election of my lifetime because crime is on the ballot, bail reform is on the ballot, criminal justice is on the ballot,” said Gavin.
“[Former Gov. Andrew] Cuomo essentially ruined this state … with the state of the city right now, we need a Republican in power.”
Gavin reported the issue to the Board of Elections, and a representative said they would “correct it immediately.”
Candice Giove, a Republican strategist, said she had a similar experience at her polling site in Bushwick, Brooklyn around 11 a.m.
“I was handed a Democratic ballot and I realized when I opened the folder and I saw Kathy Hochul’s name,” Giove told The Post.
“I went back and told the poll worker ‘I’m not a Democrat, I’m a Republican’ and he said to me, ‘we don’t have any Republican ballots.’”
Giove said poll workers then started digging through the cabinets and found a pack of Republican ballots that were “shrink wrapped and under a bunch” of other items and at that point she was able to cast her vote.
Harlem resident Eric Larsen, a registered Republican, told The Post an election worker provided him with a Democratic Primary ballot, before falsely insisting a Republican Primary wasn’t being held Tuesday.
A different staffer then apologized, acknowledged the existence of the GOP primary, and scrambled to find a Republican ballot in a cabinet.
“I know that Central Harlem is predominantly Democratic, but I found it hard to believe that a polling location even in a mostly Democratic location wouldn’t have had enough Republican ballots by the middle of the day on primary day,” said Larsen, who works in finance. “I did eventually get one … [but] they gave me a hard time.”
“It was really weird,” added the 52-year-old. “It’s so beyond weird.”
While Republican voters can be a rare sight in New York City’s blue streets, Gavin and Giove are concerned other GOP supporters at their polling locations weren’t able to cast their ballots and could’ve voted for Democrats instead, which is against election rules.
“It seemed like they were just giving out Democrat ballots. People might not have known and assumed their only choice was to vote Democrat. People likely voted on the Democrat ballot because they weren’t given any other choice, which is why I was so incensed,” said Gavin.
“I was disenfranchised. I couldn’t believe it.”
Giove called the incident “deeply concerning.”
“I could’ve just filled out a Democratic ballot and voted and no one would’ve known the difference,” she said.
“What if I wanted to vote [for] who I thought would be the easiest to defeat?”
Gavin later returned to the polling location around noon where election workers apologized for the issue and helped him successfully cast his vote for Astorino.
Vincent Ignizio, the Deputy Executive Director of the city Board of Elections, didn’t dispute Gavin’s account when asked by The Post for comment, and instead, shifted blame to the polling location.
“Our 1,200-plus polling sites citywide are aware that we have both Republican and Democratic statewide primaries today, and the ballots for each to distribute. We have reiterated this to our borough offices to ensure all voters receive the appropriate ballots,” Ignizio said.
When Giove reported her issue on Twitter, a rep tweeted back to her that they would investigate what happened.
Gavin, who voted for Mayor Eric Adams during the mayoral election, called the snafu unacceptable and said he would’ve been just as angry if he found out there were no Democratic ballots available at the location.
“I gave Curtis Sliwa $500, but I voted for Eric Adams. When I was a Nassau County resident, I voted for Tom Suozzi,” said Gavin.
“I will cross party lines. I believe choice is the most important thing we have. My choice was limited to Democrat candidates.”
