Election 2020: No Lines, Some Broken Scanners

BROOKLYN – It’s the day of the 2020 election. There is a lot at stake and over 100 million Americans have already voted. There were lines early this morning when the polls were opened at 6 a.m., but poll sites are empty now. There seem to be no lines anywhere.

Brooklyn Museum, which had lines stretching the corner last week through early voting, was empty this afternoon, as was Barclays Center, neighbors tell us. According to Vivian Warren, a poll worker on Twitter, “I am working the polls in Brooklyn. We have had almost 700 voters. From 6:00 AM to 9:30 AM was very busy. No people have been trickling in. The early voting has made a big difference. We have had many first time voters and older people who have never voted.”

Scanners are down in a Boro Park polling site. In a video posted on Twitter, a poll worker can be seen telling people to leave their ballots in the emergency ballot box. “When they’re back up, we will scan the ballots. And that’s something that has to happen. We don’t just set them to the side,” the poll worker said.

“It was my first time voting today and I expected there to be long lines, but I was in and out in minutes,” Alicia Perez, an 18-year-old from Red Hook told Bklyner. “I was not able to go early voting, and I saw long lines on Facebook. So I planned in advance and even brought a book to read. But I arrived at my poll site at 11 a.m. and was met with happy workers.”

People are giving out free snacks outside poll sites! There’s free pizza being given out outside the Brooklyn Museum. In Bay Ridge, Muslims Giving Back is driving around in their new Hunger Truck giving out free coffee and snacks to anybody who wants them.

We will be updating this post throughout the day. Please do get in touch with us on how your voting experience is going! Email zainab@bklyner.com.