Since early voting began on Oct. 24, Long Island has been plagued by long lines and crowded polling places.
While the main causes for this voting bottleneck have been an insufficient number of polling sites and record voter turnout, it has been made worse by selfish, poorly informed people voting twice.
I’m talking, of course, about those who cast absentee ballots either by mail or dropping them off and then voted again in person.
While every New Yorker registered to vote has the right to vote in person and void a previously cast absentee ballot, no questions asked, there is no good reason to do so other than changing one’s vote.
I don’t begrudge those who preferred to vote in person and either didn’t request an absentee ballot or chose not to fill one out. However, those who already voted and decided to vote again put unnecessary pressure on our voting system (in the midst of a pandemic, no less).
Some double-voters convinced themselves that the absentee ballots they cast simply “wouldn’t count.” This is unlikely as long as they followed the instructions to properly complete, seal and return their ballots.
Others believed their absentee ballots would be counted, but were unhappy said ballots wouldn’t be added to the running total of votes counted until days after the election. This appears to be a misunderstanding of the possible election night “red mirage.”
Put simply, it’s possible Donald Trump could be ahead when in-person votes are counted on Election Night and then fall behind when absentee votes are counted, aiding him in shattering voters’ confidence in the validity of the vote.
Firstly, if Trump loses, even by a mile and on Election Night, he will still claim fraud and his supporters will still believe him, so I don’t believe this is a valid reason for anyone, even those voting in swing states, not to cast an absentee ballot (or to void a previously cast one, if their state allows it).
Secondly, New York is not a swing state. Trump will be a mile behind here on Election Night and still a mile behind when absentee votes are counted.
Thus, even if one’s goal is to avoid a red mirage, voting in person in New York won’t aid in that goal. (It would impact the running total of the nationwide popular vote, but as we were reminded in 2000 and 2016, the popular vote is, unfortunately, irrelevant in a presidential election.)
I don’t know how widespread double voting was this election cycle and am only writing this letter in response to anecdotes from voters I have seen on social media. (I plan to submit a Freedom of Information Law request to the Nassau County Board of Elections after the results are certified to see what percentage of local voters voided an absentee ballot by voting in person.)
However, I do know that a bad situation was made at least marginally worse by this behavior.
While Election Day (Nov. 3) will have passed by the time many of your readers peruse my letter, I hope those who did vote twice will consider how their actions put themselves, poll workers and their fellow voters at unnecessary risk of contracting COVID-19.
I hope they will also consider how they inconvenienced those waiting on line behind them who hadn’t yet voted and how they may have discouraged voters unable or unwilling to wait in such long lines from voting at all.
Next time, do yourselves and your fellow Long Islanders a favor. Once you’ve successfully voted once, stand back and allow everyone else to cast their ballot.
Matthew Zeidman
New Hyde Park
Matthew,
Just a thought… it’s possible that some people who voted absentee lost faith in the Post Office’s ability to deliver their ballot on time, and decided to vote in person.
I had my absentee ballot filled out and ready to mail last week, but my insecurity about the Postal Service drove my decision to vote in person. I went, in a wheelchair, to the Board of Elections on the first day of early voting, so that I could vote in person. There were lines, but they moved quickly. My decision to vote in person is my right, and I did not inconvenience anyone.
New York may not be a swing state, but we are also one of the states that does NOT count absentee ballots until a week after Election Day. For those of us who feel strongly about making sure our vote is counted on Election Day, voting in person is important.
The Board of Elections has repeatedly assured voters that even if they sent in an absentee ballot, they can vote in person and the in person vote is the one that will count. This is not new. What IS new is that the Postal Service has been compromised, so there are many absentee voters who now want to vote in person. Don’t begrudge us that right.
Good eves Matthew (my son’s name too, so you must be a good guy! LOL) I was the chair of the Russel Gardens Election polling area and I can assure you that if someone voted a 2nd or even a 3rd time (he might get in real trouble on the 3rd try) the Nassau County Board of Elections will count the in person vote and will negate the mail in ballot as they check all their digital signatures now for the last 2 years we have been using IPODS to look up every registered voter. Most important, even those that were never register were allowed to vote by Affidavit and counted in our most import election of our lifetime! But we also made sure they knew for the next time to go down to Mineola and register themselves to minimize our work next time their is a local, Park District or National Election; and what an election and hopefully by the time you or anyone else might read my reply we will know who was “legitim ally” elected by the “Electoral College” as was done 4 years ago. Karma is a Bitch, Eh?Possibly the “popular vote may also be more positive, even though it really has no affect, as we had seen the last time around and maybe that is why a certain number of people decided not to vote this time around. Those who don’t vote are TOTALLY UNAMERICAN AND SHOULD, AS PUNISHMENT BE BANISHED TO RUSSIA, CHINA, NORTH KOREA, IRAN, IRAQ, SYRIA, AFGHANISTAN FOR A YEAR OR 2 TO LEARN ABOUT WHAT FREEDOMS THEY HAGVE HERE, DON’T YOU THINK???
I can’t believe that this letter is entitled “Some Long Islanders voted twice.” The title of the letter makes it seem as if we know this as a fact. This only serves as one more example of the massive amounts of misinformation that are showing up all over the Internet.
Matthew Zeidman makes several very reasonable points in his letter. Among these, he says: “I don’t know how widespread double voting was this election cycle and am only writing this letter in response to anecdotes from voters I have seen on social media.”
The fact is that neither Mr. Zeidman, nor anyone else, knows to what extent, if any, people on Long Island voted more than once!
Amy Glass, Ph.D.
Village of Great Neck
The headline was provided by the letter-writer and is accurate.
While every New Yorker registered to vote has the right to vote in person and void a previously cast absentee ballot, no questions asked, there is no good reason to do so other than changing one’s vote.
I don’t begrudge those who preferred to vote in person and either didn’t request an absentee ballot or chose not to fill one out. However, those who already voted and decided to vote again put unnecessary pressure on our voting system (in the midst of a pandemic, no less).
Your letter, however, is inaccurate.
THE AUTHOR NEVER SAYS THAT PEOPLE VOTED TWICE–ONLY THAT HE HEARD ABOUT IT ON SOCIAL MEDIA.
Whatever the writer’s FOI request reveals, it is irrelevant in light of the fears created by the trumplican effort at undermining the USPS and its ability to deliver mail in ballots. More to the point, NY State election laws need to allow the tabulation of mail-in ballots to BEGIN prior to election day, and to address the clear limitations of our current early voting capacity.
Eric Cashdan
Sands Point, NY