Our Time PressThe Local Paper with the Global View

By Mary Alice Miller

In anticipation of the first New York election cycle since the U.S. Supreme Court last spring invalidated

parts of the 1965 Voting Rights Act, Dr. Esmeralda Simmons said, “Our voting rights have been extremely curtailed already.  The SCOTUS decision has already had a major impact in New York State and the city.” Simmons, Executive Director of the Center for Law and Social Justice, was referring to New

York State’s legislative decision to return to using the old mechanical lever voting machines for the Tuesday, September 10 primary election and any potential runoff. Electronic scanners will be used for the general election in November.

“Normally, they wouldn’t have even tried this because they would have had to get the Justice Dept.’s permission. That would have taken 60 days unless the Justice Dept. gave them expedited pre-clearance,” said Simmons.  “Under Section 5, we had pre-clearances. Now that there is no Section 5 (because Section 4 which determined which states and counties must receive pre-clearance from federal authorities was invalidated), they can do what they want to do without anybody looking over their shoulders.”

Three counties in New York City – Kings, Manhattan and the Bronx — were covered under Sections 4 and 5 of the Voting Rights Act.  “If part of New York State was covered most of the time all of New York

State complied,” said Simmons.

“The whole reason that Section 5 was there was to catch problems before they occur. Without the expertise and the clout of the Justice Department to stop something that was discriminatory or having the likelihood of being discriminatory against voters or causing voter dilution, now we have to wait until after they discriminate to go running in to court to charge discrimination when the election is over,” said

Simmons. “Finding out what the changes are is extremely difficult. Before we would just go to the Justice Department website to see what New York State and New York City filed. Now there is nothing unless you have someone inside within the Board of Elections you don’t know.”

One known change will surprise a lot of voters on Primary Day is the return of the mechanical machines.

“Those mechanical machines have a very poor history in Black and Latino communities,” said Simmons.

“Back in 1988, the Center for Law and Social Justice won a lawsuit that required the Board of Elections to stop sending the machines that had a history of breaking down into our polling sites. The court determined it could not have been accidental that we kept getting the same broken-down machines.”

These machines have not been in use since NYS spent $95 million for voting scanners to come into compliance with the Help America Vote Act. “I know the mechanics have cranked them up, but I expect to see lots of problems and a lot of inspectors will not be familiar with the mechanical machines,” said Simmons.

In addition, “There are going to be a lot of voters who just started voting in the Obama rush of 2012 and 2008 who are not familiar with the mechanical machines and are going to be faced with using them and will not be offered any training.” Simmons acknowledged that the only thing the Board of Elections is doing to train voters on the mechanical machines is they have a little pictorial illustration in the election materials that were sent out by the Voter Assistance Commission.

Simmons noted that the state does not always comply with its own law to provide Chinese, Korean and Russian language voter materials and translators. “There is a lawsuit pending against them right now because of how they have treated Asian voters in New York City,” said Simmons. “They have continually been flaunting the law. They had been made aware of that by various voting rights groups particularly the Asian-American Legal Defense Fund. And now with no more Justice Department (oversight), the Asian-American Legal Defense Fund has gone to court to force them to do the right thing.”For an election as important as the mayoral election when a lot of people are going to come out to vote, Dr. Simmons said there is a great chance with the machines and some people having changed polling sites that people will be more likely to lose their vote.

“I do not look forward to a peaceful Election Day,” Simmons said.

If voters encounter any election problems, Simmons suggested they call the Center for Law and Social Justice at 718 804-8892 or 1 866 VOTE-NYC.

Dr. Simmons provided a list of things that people can do to safeguard their vote before and during the elections:

1) Make sure you are registered to vote. A lot of people think they are registered to vote, but your registration in this state will lapse if you don’t vote within four years. The Center for Law and Social Justice has challenged voter purging in New York and courts found it to be discriminatory.

Check to make sure you are registered by physically going to the Board of Elections and bring a picture ID or call 1 866 VOTE-NYC, or going online to http://voterlookup.elections.state.ny.us.

If you are not registered, it is too late to register for the primary election or the runoff, but it is not too late to register for the general election in November. You can register for the general election in November by going to the Board of Elections website, printing out a registration form then taking it to the BOE office in your borough.

2) If you want to vote in the Democratic or Republican primary or any other primary, you must be enrolled in that party.

3) If you don’t want to lose your vote, make sure you are at the right polling table within the correct poll site. Often, there are many EDs or polling tables in a poll site. If you go to the wrong polling table, you will not be in their roles and will have to sign an affidavit ballot and make sure it is filled out correctly in order for your vote to count.

To find your correct polling site and ED, go to poll site address locator: www.vote.nyc.ny.us./pollingplaces or www.nyc.pollsitelocator.com.

If you received a voter information mailer, the gold box has your polling site address and your ED, which tells you which table to go to. Bring it with you when you go vote.

Or e-mail your complete home address to vote@boe.nyc.ny.us and put the borough in which you reside in the subject line. They will send you an e-mail back telling you where to vote.

4) Vote early on Election Day. The polls open at 6am.

5) No candidate gear (T-shirt, hat, button, etc.) at the polls, except what you are holding in your hand. Candidate gear within 100 feet of a polling site is called electioneering and can result in you being asked to leave.

6) Handle voting problems wisely. Never leave the polling area without voting by some form or fashion.

If you are not found in the poll role book, vote by affidavit ballot or if the mechanical machine is broken down for more than 15 minutes, you can vote by emergency ballot, or request to vote on the BMD (ballot marking device) located in each poll site.  Voting on the BMD is better than using an emergency ballot because a BMD vote is counted at the end of the Election Day.

Know that there will be two sets of books: a regular book (A-L and M-Z) plus a supplemental list for those whose registrations came in late. If you lost your vote by mistake on a voting machine, go to the Board of Elections in your borough and try to get a court order. Usually, the judge grants an order so that you can go back to your poll site and vote on the machine.

By Stephen Witt

Local elections bring good temp jobs

A recent glance at the Craigslist help wanted ads (under government jobs) revealed that there’s plenty of high-paying temporary work being a canvasser for a local candidate.  The top job advertised pays $700 for a week’s work, and several pay $13 an hour and promised $450 for five days work canvassing for a particular candidate.

These ads immediately came to KCP’s mind this week when the much-publicized Bed-Stuy forum at the AME Church on MacDonough Street and Tompkins Avenue brought out about as many canvassers as attendees in an event that was supposed to feature several citywide candidates.

Among those workers included about ten each for comptroller candidates Scott Stringer and Eliot Spitzer.  In particular, Spitzer’s crew was suspect as he’s already spent $6.7 million of his own money and entered the race less than two months ago.

Not all the campaign workers were there just for the money, though, as Democratic District Leader Chris Owens, who was outside the church in support of Stringer.

Owens, considered a Kings County Democratic Party reformer, kept mum about his own political ambitions, but did say he will not run for state Senator Eric Adams’ seat when Adams ascends to the Brooklyn Borough Presidency come January without any opposition. Owens said Adams’ seat will go to Jesse Hamilton.

After some time, Spitzer was the first to show up and gave a stump speech of his accomplishments as both state Attorney General and Governor to the roughly forty people in attendance.

Alluding to the romp he had with a woman of the night which forced him to resign as governor, Spitzer admitted he’s made mistakes, but said he reentered politics because “It’s not a profession. It’s a cause to fight for where you don’t pull any punches or worry about who you offend or step on.”

Spitzer then made his case that he will shepherd the city’s pension funds and make sure all city contracts are in order and that any savings passed on will go to improve schools, keep hospitals open and build more affordable housing.

Stringer immediately followed Spitzer and launched in about his two young children, and his own childhood growing up in Washington Heights. In taking a swipe at Spitzer not being convicted of a crime despite crossing state lines to be with a prostitute, Stringer said he believed the rich play by some rules and everyone else plays by other rules.

Stringer said as comptroller in a new administration he will help level the playing field, where people are not stopped-and-frisked  for their color, and where everyone has a fighting chance to get ahead in life.

The last citywide candidate to speak was Public Advocate candidate Letitia James. Her opponents, Dan Squadron and Reshma Saujani, were also slated to appear, but neither showed up, perhaps conceding the area to James as she actually represents a small slice of Bed-Stuy.

James, a strong campaigner who cut her teeth politically working as Chief of Staff for Al Vann, presented her long public service record including being a former Public Defender, assistant attorney general and a City Councilwoman for the past 10 years.

James also pointed out that as head of the City Council’s Contracts Committee, it was she (through two whistleblowers) that uncovered the City Time scandal in which the Bloomberg Administration outsourced a firm for $46 million to computerize city agencies only to have the company charge $800 million in overruns. This led to several convictions of City Time workers and the company paying the city some $500 million in damages.

James said the role of the Public Advocate is to provide checks and balances on both the mayor and the City Council.

The three things a Public Advocate can do are litigate, legislation and agitate, said James.

Republican Hopefuls

Kings County GOP boss Craig Eaton said this week that the Republican Party had hoped to run a candidate for Brooklyn Borough President against Democratic Party nominee Eric Adams, but the candidate they thought would run dropped out at the last minute for personal reasons.

“In the past we’ve always run a candidate, even against Marty Markowitz,  but when this person dropped out we didn’t have time to find another candidate,” said Eaton, refusing to name the person that backed out of the race.

Eaton, who is supporting Republican John Catsimatidis for mayor, said Brooklyn has three Republicans running  that could make it to the City Council.

This includes GOP State Sen. Marty Golden’s longtime spokesperson John Quaglione, who is challenging Democratic incumbent Vincent Gentile in the 43rd District of Bay Ridge and Dyker Heights; Anthony Testaverde, who is running for the open 46th District seat of Canarsie, Flatlands, Marine Park, Gerritsen Beach and Mill Basin; and Andrew Sullivan, running for the open 47th District seat representing Coney Island, Bath Beach, Gravesend and parts of Bensonhurst.

Special Place for African Art in Brooklyn

Candidates spar in final debate before polls open

By Stephen Witt

As Bedford-Stuyvesant voters readied to elect their new City Councilman next week, three of the four major candidates sparred off in a final debate at the Billie Holiday Theater in Restoration Plaza.

The major candidates on hand included Rev. Conrad Tillard, senior pastor at the Nazarene Congregational Church, District Leader Robert Cornegy and community activist Kirsten John Foy. The fourth candidate, Rev. Robert Waterman, pastor at Antioch Baptist Church, was unable to attend as he had church business.

When asked what the candidates would do to stem the high rates of foreclosures in the district, Tillard responded that he has already held forums on the subject at his church in partnership with the Bridge Street Development Corporation and the Bedford-Stuyvesant Real Estate Board and other nonprofits on such issues as how to transfer real estate assets from one generation to another.

Many residents bought these brownstones on transit salaries and other working-class jobs and now people are coming in who come from a lot more money, and the longtime homeowners  need to learn more how to protect their assets, said Tillard.

“As a City Councilman who knows the pitfalls of the community, I will marry homeowners with the resources available and before them,” he said.

Cornegy said he would make sure local banks are held accountable to the Community Reinvestment Act and adhere to policies against predatory lending. Cornegy also praised the local nonprofits such as Bridge Street and the Brownstoners, and said he joined them to do outreach to senior homeowners concerning if they are in default through water and property tax liens.

“Bed-Stuy has good infrastructure in helping and assisting homeowners and as City Councilman I will make sure to continue funding these important organizations,” he said.

Foy identified two problems related to foreclosures – protect homeowners from the aftermath of the housing meltdown and work for more affordable units for renters.

For homeowners, Foy supports property tax rebates based on longevity of the homeownership which will stabilize longtime homeowners on fixed incomes.  For making rentals more affordable, Foy said the median income levels for affordable housing has to be pegged to only local incomes. It is currently being set in a larger region including Long Island and Westchester County, he said.

When asked about how to bring down the high rate of unemployment in the community, Tillard noted that there are many young  men with felony convictions that find it hard to find gainful employment. “I tell these young men to survey the community to see what services and goods can be provided and I trumpet the gospel of entrepreneurship,” he said.

Tillard said as City Councilman, he would put funds into small businesses, technical training and to attract as much investment in the community as possible.

Cornegy said he would also champion local small business and he has already worked on a small business incubator to provide both technical assistance and access to capital. Both Food Town in Restoration Plaza and the Peaches franchise are also part of a program where 80 percent of their employees are hired locally, he said.

Foy said the Bloomberg Administration has attacked the local economy with overregulation and fining of small business to close budget gaps. Thus, he would remove these regulations and fines, and remove corporate subsidies from corporations that are not investing in or employing locally.

Any money taken from the local community in fines and fees should go back into the local community for microloans and technical training, he said.

Foy said the unemployment rate for men of color hovers around 50 percent, and both job training and education is needed to stem this crisis.