City Council Speaker Calls for BOE Head To Resign

BROOKLYN – The citywide scanner snafu is getting the attention of lawmakers with City Council Speaker Corey Johnson calling for the resignation of the top man at the New York City Board of Elections.

Johnson retweeted an interview of Board of Elections’ Executive Director Michael Ryan saying the faulty scanners were are due to a higher turnout and “ballots getting wet.”

“Now we’re blaming the weather?” Johnson tweeted. It’s unacceptable & unfair to voters. Michael Ryan should resign & we should begin a top to bottom review of how this happened.”

Dozens of reports on faulty scanners and long lines have flooded social media. Bklyner reported one of the first incidents early this morning when a polling site in Downtown Brooklyn opened more than a half hour later than expected.

That wasn’t the last hiccup in the area. City Councilman Brad Lander took to social media an hour ago to tweet that all the ballot scanners are/have been down at multiple polling sites in his district.

Meanwhile, Borough President Adams went down to the Ingersoll Community Center in Fort Green where three of the five scanners are broken. Voters reportedly complained of a ten minute wait time at the polling site.

Mayor de Blasio’s office tweeted encouraging people to stay in line and calling for voter reform.

This story is part of a journalism collaboration with ProPublica’s Electionland, a project that monitors voting problems across the country. If you had trouble voting, or if you saw something you want to tell us about, here’s how.

Bklyner is participating in the Electionland coalition of newsrooms around the country covering problems that prevent eligible voters from casting their ballots during the 2018 elections. If you see or have a problem, please notify Electionland through:

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