Describe your experience. Please be specific.

My voting experience was uneventful. I looked

up my polling location because I know it can

change. I went to my designated location (&

Hoffman Ave) at approximately 4p.m. and cast

my ballot.

I walked into eagle point elementary to vote and

was greeted by a line out the door of the library.

When I finally got to give my name the person

in front of me and behind me were told they

were in the wrong spot and had to go to mater

Christi after the website indicated that was their

polling place. the whole process was chaos

with staff not quite sure how to remedy the

issues. The machine to accept votes was

broken and my vote was placed into a box

instead. VOTER FRAUD

My husband and I were redirected to a

different polling place----we got to the NEW

polling destination only to be told there were no

more ballots and they only had a few paper

ballots. We stood in line forever and were the

last people to be able to use a paper ballot, that

was simply placed on an open table.....NO

BALLOT BOX. We felt as tthough we were

voting for a King or Queen at a prom!! The

people in the long lines behind us had

NOTHING to vote with. They were told to

either wait or come back later!!

RIDICULOUS!!!!! We are taxpayers and want

a REVOTE immediately.......this needs to be

challenged!!!!

I voted at the Elementary School on New

Scotland Ave. The line was really long and at

least 2 people in front of me walked out

because they came to the wrong place to vote -

they used to be assigned to this school and

were not notified about the change. I am not

sure if they had time to go to a different place.

Overall, it was really poorly organized.

I voted at Albany School of Humanities around

6:30 PM. The election workers said they were

out of ballots and not sure if more were coming.

There were about 25 people waiting for ballots

to show up.

Since I wasn't in any of their books they allowed

me to fallout a paper ballot and put it in an

envelope that I had to sign the affidavit on the

front of it. They seemed horribly disorganized

and I have no confidence that my vote was

actually counted as the worker put it in a

cardboard box on the floor.

I witnessed multiple people (I'd estimate about

15 people) leave being frustrated that they

couldn't vote.

I had a ballot and went to the machine to cast

my vote, worker got up out of her seat, took my

ballot put in middle slot and me machine wasn't

working.

Speaking as a concerned lifetime Albany

Resident and AHS Class of '94, RPI Class of

'97 - the voting yesterday for the AHS School

vote was terrible and a disgrace. Speaking as a

former Albany Board of Elections election

inspector who used to be in charge of a major

voting location (ASH with 2 machines and

several districts; for several years) myself and

another former inspector witnessed improper

and even illegal (by normal election standards)

procedures at 3 polling places.

Things we witnessed/experienced:

Everything from leaving the emergency ballot

slot open and people using it even though the

machine was working fine (we told a poll worker

and he said "oops"), using notebook paper for

people to handwrite ballots and put them in a

folder (not the machine nor emergency ballot

box), photocopied ballots, recording and

shouting out of peoples' names and addresses,

etc.

The 3 sites we visited (a couple of us voting)

were Parks & Rec, Montessori, and Pine Hills

Elementary. There is NO WAY this vote should

be considered legal nor complete.

I don't know who/how to proceed with filing a

lawsuit but it should (and probably will) happen -

this is disenfranchisement on a large scale!

Voted at School 19 on New Scotland Avenue at

around 2:30 pm... there were two persons

handling the signatures... no observer or poll

watcher. Machine worked fine. Returned later

(around 4pm) accompanying my wife... there

was a line out the door. The machine

(scanner) failed. I observed several people

become exasperated and leave. While we

waited a gentleman wheeled in a replacement

machine. this took a while, and many persons

waited, but several left. I chose to take a seat

in the classroom, as I had already voted. Still

no poll watcher... just the two signature

persons. My daughter voted quite a bit later

and told me in a phone conversation that she

had to manually submit her ballot as the

scanner was not working!

My usual school voting location is the. Eagle

Point school, however this time voting sites

were changed and we were designated to vote

at Mater Christi. This was confusing to voters

as people arrived at Mater Christi after having

gone to their usual locations and then had to

figure out where to go to vote. We arrived

approximately at 5:00 and voters who were

standing in line tried to direct voters to either

the A through K line or the L through Z line.

There appeared to be no official person to

avoid confusion as the lines were going out the

door and even into the kitchen. The lines did

not move and eventually the word trickled to the

voters in line that they had run out of ballots.

Some of the voters left. After 15 minutes or so,

the word then trickled back that someone was

getting paper ballots to use. Finally we reached

the desk to sign in and were given a paper

ballot to complete. Some people didn't know

where to put them after completing them - the

voting machines could not accommodate these

"makeshift" paper ballots. We then figured out

that we should hand them to the person at the

desk who was signing voters in. In order to do

so, a voter had to interrupt the signing in

process and hand the ballot to the person at the

desk. (There were only two people signing in

all of the voters.) when we handed in the ballot

to the desk person, she then shoved it in a file

folder that was not sealed. There did not

appear to be any security at the voting site to

ensure that all ballots were to be kept secret

I have several people interested in being part of

the lawsuit. Please contact me. I did not vote

and am not eligible to vote so don't count this in

the total.

My husband and I went to vote Tuesday

evening at the Hoffman Avenue polling place.

there was already a line of people and the

workers were trying to explain that there was no

more ballots available and they were trying to

get more. they had no idea how long that

would take and suggested maybe ASH school

on Whitehall Rd had some. A man that was

waiting to vote offered to go see if they had

some and would call the worker's cell phone to

let him know if they did. He said he would bring

them back to Hoffman Ave. the parking lot was

full of people leaving and new people arriving.

it was confusion to say the least. we returned

about 8pm hoping that there were ballots

available and there now was so we were able to

vote.

I have to say it was a pretty unprepared event.

I think there were only a couple pencils, people

were putting their ballots in the manila

envelopes, no one was giving directions. I think

the whole thing rattled the poor workers. can't

blame them, it did me too.

I voted on my lunch break. I had no lines and a

proper ballot.

Denied ballot

Voted around 7PM. No electron ballots. Was

given a 8 1/2"x 11" paper "x marks the spot"

ballot. Folded it over in half and the so called

voting inspector put it in a manila envelope that

was quite full. Seemed to be, say 50 or so

hand ballots in there. My wife stuck hers in the

vote counter computer, boy did that make a

bunch of sounds before it spit it back out. A bit

funny, lots of tension in that room. Im surprised

they didnt make us dip our fingers in the purple

dye.

I would like to see a computer tally of votes and

hand vote tally on a per site basis.

Voted around 7PM. No electron ballots. Was

given a 8 1/2"x 11" paper "x marks the spot"

ballot. Folded it over in half and the so called

voting inspector put it in a manila envelope that

was quite full. Seemed to be, say 50 or so

hand ballots in there. My wife stuck hers in the

vote counter computer, boy did that make a

bunch of sounds before it spit it back out. A bit

funny, lots of tension in that room. Im surprised

they didnt make us dip our fingers in the purple

dye.

I would like to see a computer tally of votes and

hand vote tally on a per site basis.

The mailing I received stated that I should vote

at my regular polling station. I showed up at my

regular voting stain that I voted in the Nov

election. The station was closed. I wasn't aware

that voting locations of school board run votes

were at different locations. I took I quess that

the location was different and figure out to vote.

I had to wait in a long line. The poling station

only had 3 pens was unstaffed. The whole vote

process is shady. This proposal trying to be

pushed thru. I feel that the school board is

trying to put one over on the people of Albany.

We voted at the Mater Christi school, which is

our normal polling station for the 14th ward. I

spoke to several persons who stated they have

lived in the city for over 25 years and had never

voted at that polling station. Earlier, the site

had run out of ballots. The registration was

organized by last name, not ward as is usual.

The line after registering, wrapped around the

perimeter of the room waiting for the ONE

scanning machine present. Many folks walked

up, saw the line and left. I can't help but

believe that this was intentional

disenfranchisement - overcrowding, not enough

equipment and ballots, delays in opening times,

and combining wards into polling sites further

added to the confusion. It would be interesting

to know the polling locations of the various

initial 'no' vote wards back in November, and

how those polling places had changed leading

up to February 9th's vote - especially in

comparison with the Center Square, Arbor Hill,

South end, and the other 'yes' voting wards

from the November cycle. I for one found the

process as undemocratic as any I've

experienced in my voting lifetime, and I'm

approaching 50. Terrible.

i'm not a voter in albany, and after jearing what

happened yesterday am glad i'm not. whatever

the outcome, the people that had anything to do

with it should be brought on the carpet. it

makes me feel like our town leaders are

angels.

While I was able to cast my ballot, I am relaying

the experiences of two people next to me in line

between 5 and 6PM at Mater Christi. Next to

me was a senior citizen who explained this was

their third visit to the polling site, after having

been turned away twice earlier in the day as a

result of too few ballots. Also next to me was a

voter who said she was directed to Mater

Christi via the Board's location finder, only to

learn upon registering that her name was not in

the book. I witnessed her request an

emergency or affidavit ballot, and she was

denied by an official who appeared to be in

charge of the location. She told them she had a

right to that kind of ballot, and the response

was along the lines of: "I understand your

concerns, but we are very busy and there is

nothing we can do." She then left. While I am

afraid that I do not have their names, I hope

they share their own stories as the voter

disenfranchisement was shameful.

Used a paper ballot- 7:30 a.m., with closed

door at Pine Hills Elementary

BIG BIG BIG issue- on Thurs. 2/4 included in

my daughters' (3) report cards mailed from

Hackett Middle School and Albany High was

included a 'VOTE YES' brochure. Yeah, on my

taxpayer paper, in my taxpayer envelope, with

my taxpayer stamp. No indication it was

provided by a shadow group. Can forward copy

of envelope and brochure. Contacted Bd. of

Elections, enforcement division. Also sent copy

to Counsel's of NYSED. This 'VOTE YES'

brochure sent to thousands of parents in district-

illegally. Help Help!

Was never notified where to vote, so I went to

my usual voting place at the TOAST school, the

door was locked so I came home called the

School Board and was told I have to go to the

grade school off Deleware Ave. when there

was told I should go to Hackett Midfle School,

Frustrated I went home and didn't vote.

My husband and I attempted to vote at our

normal voting location (which is what was

advertised to do) which is Albany School of

Humanities on Whitehall Road. There were

approximately 50 people or more already in

line. They had no signs to inform people that

there were actually two lines but due to all the

people you couldn't see that. So we eventually

were told by other voters that A-K was over on

the other side and the long line that everyone

was standing it was actually the L-Z. There

was one person recording the ballot number

and names on the lined paper. This held the

line up considerably. As we were approaching

the front of the line I had noticed that the man

handing out the actual ballot forms had very

few forms. I kept looking to see if there was

another pile next to him but couldn't see any.

After about 45 minutes we reached the front of

the line and we were told that we were in the

wrong voting place (even though that is the

location at which we voted in November) and 2.

they had just run out of ballots. A woman yelled

to the crowd that they were out of ballots. They

had already been waiting 45 minutes for ballots

and that they had no idea when they were

coming. She did apologize but that they had

NO control of it. There was nothing they could

do but wait for someone to come. We were not

given the option to vote using an absentee

ballot or a piece of paper or anything. There

were several people in line that had small kids.

While we were in line I witnessed at least 50

At 8:30 I walked over to the school and there

was no s as to where to enter the building. I

walked to the loading dock and was greeted by

a large dumster of garbage on wheels. The

door would not open and I could see a group of

people sitting at a table behind one of the high

tables to make out the ballot. They could not

see the door. I went to the main entrance and

buzzed myself in and some woman and I told

her I wanted to vote. She said I had to go to the

dock entrance. I told her that the door was

locked and no at opened the door. She

escorted me to the cafeteria and there were

around three people sitting at the table and you

could see they had could not see the dock

door. The woman who escorted me into the

cafeteria immediately saw the problem and

initiated changing the location of the table. One

of the woman who was at the table said that it

was a rough morning and I unfortunately was

upset and said that she was being paid. I

called a number of numbers on the school

district and got voice mail. I did get a MR.

Weisman and explained the situation and he

said what did I want him to do and told him that

they needed to have a sign to the poling door

and have the polling people open the door. I

was not satisfied and called another and got the

Supr. office and she said they already got a

call. She then said that she voted there and had

no problem and I said maybe it was because of

her status. I explained the situation again and I

think she got the message. Again there were

My husband and I voted at Pine Hills

Elementary School mid-afternoon. The

machine was not working - supposedly jammed

- and so we had to insert our ballots into a slot

below the actual voting machine.

I did not like this at all and feel that there should

be a re-vote, perhaps at primary time. It is

ridiculous - with all the publicity and hype to get

out and vote - that they did not have enough

ballots, machines were jammed, people were

not allowed in at the correct time, etc.

It was an extremely cramped venue. Parking

was tough to find. Once in the building, the line

was out the door, and people were walking out

saying that they weren't going to wait on this

line. No one was directing newcomers to the

tables where they could find their last names.

No one was guiding the line to wait for voting,

either. The sign posted said the capacity was

48 - there were probably around 200 standing

around the room. No one knew where the end

of the line was, and people were getting very

frustrated. Worst of all, there was ONE voting

machine. One. Voting. Machine. One woman

was mistakenly unable to vote and was told to

fill out a special certified form, but they were all

out, so she wasn't able to vote. Others had to

fill out ballots and they just sat in a pile on the

desk. The whole process was complete chaos.

I was also wondering why I had to vote at Mater

Christi when I live so close to other schools. I

don't vote there for other elections, why have to

drive over there for this? Very disappointing in

so many ways.

Hi! I'd like to know who runs this site. I think

people would feel more comfortable sharing

their experiences if they knew who was behind

this information collection. Thank you.

Cody Holyoke

WRGB-TV

I almost put my ballot in the wrong place. The

slot for emergency ballots was open. Luckily

my daughter-in-law pointed this out to me

before I slipped it in. She mentioned to one of

the election people that the slot was open and

he said "oops". My daughter-in-law worked the

regular elections for several years, so she

knows how they should be run. One of the

election people also mentioned that they had

run out of ballots earlier in the day. I am very

concerned about the legality and legitimacy of

this election.

I was in line at Mater Christi for 45 minutes.

The line was not moving and there was no

announcement until word started filtering down

the line that there were no ballots. They said

some were "on the way". Next thing we knew

was they said we were going to vote on paper

ballots. I stayed in line (many left) and got my

paper ballot. I was told to mark yes or no and

then return the ballot to the registration table.

Upon going back to the table with my piece of

paper, the poll worker (?) took the paper and

slid it under her book. I said that that location

was not secure among the piles of other

papers. There was absolutely no receptacle for

these pieces of paper. As I left I was

interviewed (and on TV, though I did not see it)

and upon hearing my story many, many people

got off the line and walked out. To say this

process had "irregularities" would be a gross

understatement. I am willing to talk for the

record. This was a travesty.

I waited some 10-20 minutes for ballots to

arrive at ASH. When I was able to vote, the

ballots were not scannable, and instead had the

ballot language on a piece of paper, with an

area where I could check yes or no. I was then

asked to place the ballot in an envelope, and

into a slot beneath the scanning machine. This

did not seem to be a secure means of vote

store, and was ripe for tampering.

Arrive at ASH polling place to find long lines

because we had to register and vote in the

lobby instead of the gym as normal. Waited 45

minutes to find out we were at the wrong polling

place and they were out of ballots. We were

told they were bring more ballots and were not

given any option to vote. While at AsH we

witnessed many people turn and walk out and

probably did not return because there were no

ballots and no alternatives offered. My wife and

I had a committment that evening so we left

and we were not able to vote. I feel my right to

vote was violated as many at ASH did. Isn't this

supposed to be a democracy. This election

should be thrown out and another voting date

set.

My wife and I voted at mater Christi school

around 5pm. While in line, they ran out of the

computer readable ballots. They said that

"more would be delivered but did not know

when". We could either wait for them, or come

back later, or, file a paper ballot. We filed paper

ballots which were placed in a Manila folder at

the desk of the volunteers working the election.

They were not secured in any way.

I was able to vote because I went in the

morning, but I support you totally. And a

retirement "bonus" was paid to a former

employee to "manage" this! At the very least

she should refund the money and be sued for

the cost of a new vote that must occur.

I didn't have any problems voting at Eagle

Point. It was a small corner in the library,

voting has always been held in the gym.

The staff was efficient and I was in and out in

less than 10 minutes.

I was there at 12:30.

P.Serafino

When I voted yesterday, I signed the large book

containing registered voters' names. As well,

however, before they gave me my ballot, the

election workers wrote my name in a spiral

notebook and wrote next to it a number that

they read off the ballot. This means that anyone

who has access to both the ballots and the

spiral notebook can match the ballots to voters'

names and determine who voted "yes" and who

voted "no" in this election. This violates voters'

rights to secret ballots. (2-10-2016)

my daughter was told she could not not her

ballot in the machine by the wall , the lady at the

table had some one remove it and put it in the

other machine , i did not feel this was a honest

experience i think they need to hold another

vote OVER ESSN BY AN INDEPENDENT

FIRM , this vote in all our school seems to be

fixed , i am not happy to vote in a crooked

election

No signs or directions at Eagle Point

Elementary on where to vote or where to enter

the building. I was locked out of one door and

someone coming by instructed me to go the

front of the building. Very confusing and

frustrating.

We voted at the Monte Christi School off of

New Scotland Avenue. We waited for almost 40

Minutes to vote. The people who were working

for the school board had no idea what they

were doing. I kept seeing voter leaving because

of time restraints 4 people working and none

who knew what they were doing. One voting

machine. The line was out the door this was at

or about 4 P.M. Also there was electioneering

going on from the labors union 190.

They had a truck with a lighted bill board driving

around the school while children were being

dismissed and they were less than 100 feet

from the polling place. I must have seen 40

people leave that were unable to vote. People

couldn’t find the polling place either several

people stated they drove around for an hour

trying to fine the school. I never seen anything

like this before and for that reason my vote

wasn’t counted. I will support legal action and

would being willing to contribute to the cost of

filing legal action against the City of Albany

School board.

Woman working table was on the phone

ordering "Moroccan chicken". She put phone

down on table almost had me sign in wrong

spot. I corrected her. Gentleman eating a

sandwich. Unclear where the scanner was.

Very unorganized and poorly set up.

We arrived around 6:20 pm to vote. There were

several people waiting to vote. They handed out

the last ballot- they had only had 150 to begin

with! We voted with a paper ballot.

normally the voting location is in the gym where

there is plenty of space between the

registration tables and the booths to place your

vote and not in the library of the school where

there was clearly not adequate space to do so .

there's usually more space/privacy between the

booths were we vote and multiple machines for

scanning ballots when completed. it felt

cramped and not private. it appeared that two

machines were available to scan in your ballot

but i was told i was using the wrong one, even

though no clear directives were given to me at

the time my ballot was handed to me. I had an

uneasy feeling the entire time because its not

the same atmosphere or proper preparation for

the voters as there usually is. i arrived between

11 and 12 to place my vote, at which time i feel

they should have a better plan to make this

process easier and difficult and frustrating for

the voter.

I voted at Eagle Point in the afternoon and

everything was fine. The clerks were helpful.

Signs made it easy to find the voting location

arrived at ASH at 7:26Am but could not vote

due to missing voter "books"

I assumed that we would be doing electronic

voting at school 19.. I know it isn't referred to as

that anymore... I arrived at 4:00 pm and there

was a line getting into the music room where

the voting machines were located...the poll

workers seemed very slow and not very

knowledgeable... I witnessed one of the voter's

attempting to use the electronic section of the

voting machine and neither of the poll workers

said that she had to just slip the ballot into a

slot under the machine... I mentioned that we

always use the electronic section for voting not

knowing that we were using emergency ballots

and the poll workers made no mention of the

same... I then mentioned to others in line that

we slip the ballot into the slot and don't use the

electronic section... the ballot was not secret!!

I used one of the desks for completing the

ballot and am certain that folks in line could see

the way I voted. Regardless I submitted my

ballot and shook my head at the process.

As a Committeeman for the 12th ward 8th

district I had at least 2 phone calls that around

7:30 am The voters were told that they don't

have the ballots .. they were locked up in the

main office .. I will not reveal their names ,

until I receive their permission .

There were no ballots when I went there at 6pm

to vote. Was told it would be at least 20

minutes until more arrived.

My wife and I voted at Eagle Point Elementary

School. The copier didn't

work properly to read our paper ballots. We are

ages 72 and 73 and

attempted to vote at 9:30 AM.

I have lived at the same address for approx 19

and voted in just about all of the Elections.

Voted in Nov for the High School with no

problems. Yesterday was disgraceful. Not only

did they not have enough poll workers, they had

one machine. Waited in line for approx 30

minutes to be told that they did not have my

name on file. How is that possible? Woman

told me she would give me absentee ballot and

then couldn't find one. Ten minutes later came

back with one, told me fill it out , proceeded to

put it under a pile of papers and that was that. I

would be shocked if that didn't wind up in the

trash. Something doesn't smell right to me. For

the School board president to say that he

doesn't know what the gripe is about speaks

volumes. Is it any surprise that the graduation

rate at AHS is so low. Great example to set for

students with an attitude like that. If someone

doesn't follow thru on this would be equally

disgraceful. Would have no gripe if it was a fair

fight !

Does anyone realize that those who were not

able to vote had their constitutional rights

violated. They should be made whole by

allowing them to vote now by absentee ballot

OR to vote at a polling station set up by the city

SO EVERYONE'S VOICE CAN BE HEARD!

I received no information regarding the vote on

Feb. 9th. If it was not for my family and friends,

I would not have remembered to vote. If it was

not for my sister I would not have known where

to vote, Thank God she told me by researching

it online.

I've lived in Albany all my life but am truly

disgusted with the School Board. This is not

first time the either the current or past school

boards have mislead the citizens of Albany.

The Myers School when built, went over 50

million dollars than projected. The school board

has a terrible reputation of misrepresenting the

truth to the tax payers of Albany. Further more

they take advantage of the older population by

doing so as they are the tax payers!!!!!!!! No

wonder no one wants to move to the city as

SCHOOL TAXES are too high. When members

from this board come up for election, I'll be sure

to vote them out!!!!

I will back Mr. Connors in any legal suit

applicable, should he be able to file.

I was able to vote...However after submitting

my vote, I challenged the poller declaring that

my vote was not confidential.

The process to vote went like this:

Voter signs name in the official booklet

The poller then records my name in

chronological order in a corresponding

composition notebook.

Everyone's name is now assigned to a number.

I submit my ballot into the machine.

The number that was assigned to my name

comes up on the screen indicating that public

vote #......... was accepted.

I immediately turned to the poller and said,

"Damn, you know my vote?" she said "what do

you mean"..I explain to her exaclty as stated

above and she shrugs her shoulders indicating

she knew what I meant but couldn't attest "Yay"

or "nay".

The way I see it is the machine recorded public

vote #...and for the purpose of this description,

lets just say it was vote # 1000...IF the district

or school board wants to know who voter #

1000 is then simply, look at the name next to

#1000 is in the corresponding composition note

book.

I do not feel the democratic process was

protected. Nor do I recall a corresponding

Once I found my polling station I had no issues,

but if I didn't watch the news, I would not have

known about the vote. There was no mailer or

announcement from the school board that a

vote was happening. Not getting any kind of

official notice almost prevent normal voting for

me.

I went to the polls at Mater Cristi at approx 4

pm and immediately was approached by

residents saying they ran out of ballots and

were leaving. I walked in and to my surprise

they had only 2 tables set for 2 entire Wards

totally ludicrous and 1 polling machine. Really

for an issue as big as this and 2 of the largest

voting wards in the city I was there for an hour.

Come on they wanted people to walk away.

You have to be kidding me.The election people

were courteous but were not well informed. I

encountered numerous people who left and

didnt know if they would return. And to top it off

the paper ballots were not properly secured

either, folded in half and placed in a folder really

this 2016.Unbelievable an issue as big as this

and they screwed it up . I have voted for 42

years and this takes the cake and they call this

a democracy. So I told my significant other not

to bother voting after work that I would take her

later, another inconvience. So again we went

back at 830ish and the line was out the door

and still only one machine really What are the

combined number of voters in both wards? And

to top it off no one new where to vote and the

professionals could not direct them correctly.

One guy came in and said he lived on Van

Schoick and i said NSES and they said ASH so

who knows. Bill Hogan and the rest of the gang

should be held accountable. Ms Savage was at

the poll and I asked who admin this election

and she said the district and the board had to

sign off and said to her an issue as big as this

A separate list of voters' names and addresses

was being hand-written, causing some delay in

receiving the paper ballot. The pathway for

handicapped voting between desks in the

school library was too narrow for wheelchair or

walker access. The vote tallying machine in the

handicapped area had to be reset because of

an incomplete processing.

I did not have a problem, there were adequate

poll workers and forms and machines when I

voted at 1:00 pm., but I believe that the school

board purposely under allocated resources to

the polling places that voted against the last

referendum.

First went to Eagle Point where we have always

voted for the school budget. Were told to go to

Mater Christi. A lot of confusion at the school.

People did not know what line to go to. Waited

at least a half an hour to get the ballot and then

another half an hour to actually vote.

Witnessed one woman at the table where you

got your ballot, get up and was rummaging

through folders that were on a chair in back of

her in full view of voters who were in line.

Papers were out with no supervision at all.

Total chaos with lines overlapping. Voters

confused about which lines were the correct

ones--the line to obtain the ballot or the line to

actually vote. One voting machine for such a

large crowd was totally inefficient.

To Whom it may concern:

I am disturbed and deeply disappointed as to

how the voting went yesterday. At 5:30pm, we

were in line for over an hour at the Albany

School of Humanities in order to caste our vote.

Never during all my voting experience in Albany

(nearly 30 years) have I encountered such a

waiting time. Volunteers spent extra time writing

down our names and ballot, when asked "why"

they responded that they were instructed to do

so by the school election board. I question the

legality of this.

When I hear all the problem this voting process

encountered, I wonder how many people who

left the voting places without casting their vote

due to the too long waiting were seniors who

would have voted "no" to have their taxes

increased.

What a biased process!

Sincerely,

Barbara Shepard

I signed in, got my ballot filled it out and put it in

the most likely looking available place, a slot in

a box that had other ballots.nothing was

identified as a machine and I was too proud to

ask. I wonder if my vote was counted. How do

the totals at Pine Hills Elementary tally with the

number of voters who signed in and with the

number of ballots handed out?

1. The space designated for voting was a small

CORNER of the library. I think three additional

tables had been brought in, and it seemed no

usual tables were removed. This created a

narrow, irregular obstacle course to move in

from sign-in to the ballot-filling kiosks and then

on to the place to put your ballot (if you could

find it at all, see below). It was next to

impossible for seniors to navigate this peculiar

arrangement of furniture. There was

EXTREME CONGESTION with tripping

hazards at the sign-up because the people

leaving had to squeeze by (with their helpers

and canes) the people who were entering. I am

sorry to say, it seemed like a deliberate

inhospitable act. I have voted at Eagle Point

before, and it was NOT this way.

2. When I arrived at the sign-in desk, a very

nice gentleman volunteer was finishing up his

previous sign-up. A woman seated behind a

large table across the narrow aisle hollered

over to him that he did not have to write down

the address of the person (who had just voted)

right away. I said, "It's all right, finish up." She

bellowed, "You can do that later." The

volunteer became a little flustered, stopped his

recording of the previous voter's name after

writing down only her first name. This just did

not seem good to me; so, on my way out I

reminded him to finish and told him the voter's

last name. I think he got to it. I think the

procedure should be standardized.

I voted at Eagle Point, the library was too small

and not the proper space for voting. There

were not enough machines and only 3 people

to handle the voting.

It was a disgrace and un-American how the

voting across the city took place. I demand a

vote in April! We need to better educate our

students, a new expensive school is not the

answer. We have many new schools in Albany,

have increased students scores?

The high taxes are killing the city of Albany.

I actually first drove to Holy Names Acadamy,

where I typically vote. When I realized that I had

driven to "the wrong spot," I changed my

course to Mater Christi, where fellow voters

were walking around, trying to find a correct

entrance. The set up to sign in was extremely

strange and very inefficient. Voters who were

trying to enter to cast their vote were competing

with voters trying to leave (one way in one way

out). I waited in line for about 20/25 minutes,

which I personally was OK with. I didn't have

anywhere to be. The poor women in front of me

was in line, and was told she was in the wrong

line when she was up next, and needed to go to

the other line where they would have her last

name. There were NO signs for last names. I

was given a piece of paper, checked off my

vote, folded my piece of paper over, and gave it

to a man who placed it in a folder who was busy

signing people in. Some people were very vocal

about their unhappiness with the lack of

organization, the time for the lines and the

paper "ballots." I feel that if the majority of the

people vote in favor of the project, then so be it.

But please do this fairly. I honestly left feeling

uneasy about my experience, especially

handing a folded piece of paper to a man who

was busy taking down names. I have never felt

this way in any other voting experience. Thank

you for taking the time to read!

My experience voting for the Albany City

School's referendum were as follows

parking and access to the building was a

congested mess

only one entrance was unlocked

two other doors that lead to the voting room

were locked

room was way too small for voting

two lines (depending on where you name fell in

the alphabet) to get your ballot

then another line to the one and only voting

machine

all lines were long, zig-zagged around the room

lines criss-crossed one another so it was easy

to be in the wrong line for a long period of time

before you realized it

no signage to let you know where you needed

to be

five poll workers, two of them did not seem to

know what they were doing

took about 40 minutes from time I entered the

building til I cast

my vote-does not include time spent finding a

parking spot and walking from parking to

building

I saw a number of people leave without voting

First the election was not well advertised most

likely to keep people from voting. I only found

out about it because my neighbor had a sign in

her back yard and inquired.

I went to my old polling place. It was closed. I

found a lady who told me to go to eagle point

where the voting machine was jammed and the

wanted us to give them the ballot and they

would feed it later into the machine. No privacy

at all. They would know how we voted. I was

there for thirty minutes waiting my turn. At NO

time did they asks for ID to verify the person

voting was who he was. I was them told to go to

Christi mater school on hurst where the lines

were so long that I saw people leaving. It was

chaos. Again of the four people handing out

ballot only one person checked ID. I was not

checked. The vote was a shame, no privacy,

lack of ballots, extremely long lines I waited at

Christi one hour and 15 minutes. My spouse

voted at a different time and also saw people

leave and not voted due to the chaos and long

wait.

Walked to Eagle Point to vote on the AHS

renovation. It's two blocks away from my

house. My name was not on the list so I filled

out an affidavit. While there I notice they were

having problems with one of the voting

machines. I also notice the people running the

voting were note the same people who run it

during election time. I over heard one guy say

he lost count of the people signing up to vote.

They were also sending a lot of people to Mater

Christi to vote. So, if they too walked to Eagle

Point did they go home and then drive to Mater

Christi?

So I asked around and found out I should have

gone to MC, I txt my wife so she would know

were to go. It was a disaster over there too.

What a mess at both places on such an

important matter.

I had to return to Albany School of Humanities

4 times between approx 5:30pm and 8:00pm

before I actually got to vote. First trip the line

was too long to wait, the next 2 times there

were no ballots...on my 4th trip I voted.

At Mater Christi school they ran out of ballets. I

waited in line for 45 minutes and had to leave. I

was unable to return to vote.

At Mater Christi school they ran out of ballets. I

waited in line for 45 minutes and had to leave. I

was unable to return to vote.

I voted at ASH on Whitehall and when I arrived

around 6:25pm I was informed that they were

out of ballots and that someone went to get

more ballot forms but they had no idea how

long it would it would be before they returned

with the forms. They didn't provide any

additional options for me other to return or wait.

I had my two children with me that hadn't eaten

dinner yet so waiting and returning both were

difficult options. When my husband arrived

home I was able to run back to ASH to vote

8:15pm and the ballot forms were available.

Very long line. Apparently there were supposed

to be 2 lines but none of the votes knew until

we reached the front. They couldn't find my

name in their book. I then had to fill out a form

and put all my personal info on the front of the

envelope (name, social security number, etc.)

I had a very difficult time finding my polling

place. I looked it up online and it said the

normal place that I am used to for most

elections which is the Salvation Army. However,

when I went there I was told the vote was at the

Giffen Elementary School. So I drove over to

the Giffen Elementary school, I walked all

around the building and tried every normal

entrance. They were all locked and I saw no

signs indicating where the voting was taking

place. I then returned to my car and tried to

search for the polling places/contact

information online again. This time I was able to

find a phone number which I called. I asked

where the polling place was and the lady asked

for my address. I provided it and she told me it

was Giffen Elementary. I asked her how to get

into the building and told her that I had tried

many doors and they were all locked. She put

me on hold and then came back and told me it

was the side door off of Morton Ave. I went

looking for the entrance again and eventually

found it, but it was not easy to find and was not

signed properly to allow someone unfamiliar

with the school to find the voting place. I could

definitely see how many people would have

given up, I almost did myself.

To start I was directed to go to my usual voting

poll and when we arrived noone was there. We

then went on the internet and it was difficult to

find the right poll, but once we finally did it was

NOT our normal poll. Finally we arrived to a

long line which was no problem because I

understood it was a big vote. Several voters

who normally vote at Humanities were turned

away after waiting on line being told they were

at the wrong poll. After waiting on line for 45

minutes I was told they were out of ballots.

Everyone waited at least 1/2 hour longer until

eventually the entire place was empty because

there were elderly voters and those with kids

who just couldn't stand there all night. I would

guess over 100 voters came and went without

voting. I was told this was happening all over. I

went home to feed my family and went back to

the poll only to be told still no ballots. I waited

1/2 hour still no ballots. I had to leave to tend to

my elderly mother and could not make it back

before polls closed. It felt like they purposely

made it as difficult as possible. I have never felt

so denied the Democratic process. The only

right thing to do is offer a revote or allow those

who did not sign the votor registry the right to

cast a vote at perhaps a special election. The

board should be ashamed at what happened

and they should have some integrity if they

want us to trust them with millions of tax payer

$$ and state $$$.

Was told to go to normal poll and it was locked.

Finally found right poll and they ran out of

ballots. I left and went back 3 times and each

time no ballots. So I was denied my right to

vote because I could not stand at the polls all

night. I am outraged by this. The board slantef

this vote by making as difficult as possible just

to get what they wanted.

At 6pm I arrived at ASH

And was told they ran out of ballots and were

waiting

For some to be delivered.

I could come back in an hour, they should have

them by then.

I was determined to vote on this issue so I did

go back. But it was a nasty night to be out.

I went to vote at Mater Christie, the former St.

Catherine's (my usual voting place) and there

was one huge line of about 50 – 60 people

maybe more and then after a 10 minute wait

someone announced that if you name was L-Z

you could form another line. So we did. People

were talking about how they had gone to their

usual voting place but were told that it was the

wrong place and were turned away and sent

here. While waiting in that line they announced

that they had run out of ballots and we had to

wait for more to come in People left. Some

asked when the polls closed so that they could

come back but all were angry. After another

wait were told that there were no more of the

official ballots and that they wanted us to use

what looked like a made up paper ballot. A

piece of photocopied paper with a paragraph on

it and a Yes and No at the bottom to indicate

ones preference. More people left. When I

got to the vote signature table and signed my

name next to my printed name I was given a

ballot and went to a station and checked my

vote. Then I was told to fold it in half and give it

back to the lady who gave it to me. She stuck it

in a manila folder along with the other ballots.

There was no security no privacy no feeling of

assurance that my vote was going to be

counted. Outside in the parking lot I talked with

other voters and we questioned whether or not

they would sort and count only the Yes votes

and destroy the No votes. Some people said

that they voted No and also left additional

Although I received two reminders to vote on

2/9/16 on the Albany High issue, I wasn't told

where to vote. I went to my normal voting place

at the Pine Hills Library and found no voting

was happening nor was there any sign

indicating where I should go. I went to Albany

High School where I had voted when Pine Hills

Library was under construction. The lady didn't

see my name on the registration book and

advised me to check with the school located on

North Allen Street. I finally did find the correct

place and voted. I also realized that no signs

were placed at any of the voting venues to

identify them as polling places.

Lines were wrapped through the building and

the hallway was packed with people waiting. I

had my two small children with me and couldn't

possibly wait to vote in that crowd so late in the

day. I always vote and always bring them with

me and this has never been an issue until the

other night.

#1. - I voted at Eagle Point School after driving

first to my "regular, usual voting location".

After I arrived at 8am (at my different voting

location) I still wasn't sure if Eagle Point was

the correct location but then I saw a man

putting out signs on the one way street off

Western Avenue. SINCE THE USUAL

VOTING LOCATION WAS CHANGED, A

NOTICE ON THE USUAL VOTING BUILDING

WOULD HAVE BEEN HELPFUL TO DIRECT

VOTERS WHERE THEY SHOULD GO TO

VOTE.

#2. Later that evening while attending a 6pm

meeting at All Saints Parish Center, (corner of

Western Ave and Brevator St) for 2 hours our

meeting was interrupted by voters thinking that

they were voting there, at their "usual location"

when it was actually another location. I didnt

know where to send the confused and

frustrated voters.

Again, since Albany made a decision to change

voting locations for such an important vote, they

should have posted a sign at the "usual voting

locations" to inform and direct voters where

they should go.

I am a registered voter in Ward 8 District 8 and

was assigned to vote at ASH. When I arrived

(around 6:00pm) at ASH, there was a very long

line that was not moving. After a 1/2hr of

waiting in the line which didn't move, I went up

to the table to ask what was going on. The

volunteer told me that there were no more

ballots, but were hoping to get some more,

although she didn't know how long that could

be. I wasn't offered any paper ballot to vote on,

but she did offer to double check my name in

the book to ensure I was in the right place. I

was then informed my name wasnt in the book

and that I was assigned to the City Rec

Department. I left ASH and drove to City Rec

Department and was informed there were no

more ballots there either. I asked them to check

my name in the book. It wasnt in the book and

was told I needed to go to ASH to vote. Given I

already knew my name wasn't in the book at

ASH, and they did not have ballots, I decided I

needed to end my efforts of trying to vote (it

was almost 7:30pm at this point)

The polling place was jammed with people. No

official was available to direct us. People in the

lines told us which line to stand in to get a

ballot. The desks for marking the ballot were

surrounded by people. I could see how others

were marking their ballots, and I expect people

could see how I was marking mine. No one was

given a folder to cover the ballot, as we have

been given in other elections. Therefore, I could

also see the marked ballots of people who were

standing in line to put their ballot into the one

machine available. Another machine there was

not being used. I presume it was broken. The

line to cast the ballot snaked around the entire

perimeter of the room and took about 30

minutes to go through. My husband said he

saw people come into the room, look at the

lines, and leave without voting. I have been

voting in Albany since the early '60s, and I have

never before seen such crowds or spent so

much time between entering and casting my

ballot.

The first issue was finding our polling location!

By the 3rd stop, we realized Mater Christi was

the right location. It was jam packed with

voters, no organization at all! No one knew

where to sign in or which snaked line they

needed to stand in. I finally received my ballot,

stood in line for about 30 minutes. Finally a

woman came around with a pen and said,

"here, just fill in YES now and then it's ready

when you finally get to the machine". I filled in

NO and stood another 25 minutes for the

machine. She was pressuring everyone to fill

out their ballot, not only with a YES vote, but do

it without any privacy. The whole experience

was a debacle from the moment I tried to park

my car! The school board should be ashamed

of themselves and everyone needs to demand

a new vote. This just isn't right!

Upon arrival at 5;00 P.M., voters told there

were no more ballots. Several people left. Then

voters were told there were copies made of the

ballot for voting. There was no privacy in voting

as the room was filled with people waiting to

vote. The completed copy of the ballot was then

placed inside a manila folder and left on the

registration desk, in my opinion, very insecure.

I went to vote at my polling place (Mater Christi

School) around 4:45 pm only to find a very long

line. After standing in line the word was passed

down through the crowd that there was not

enough ballots, the people in charge where

trying to get ballots from other polling places. It

was discussed in the line that there seem to be

some confusion (poll watchers) as to how to

vote without the proper ballot. Several people,

including myself just went home the moment

we heard that. Note: the media is reporting

about a dozen people didn't get to vote, I seen

a least that many walk away including myself at

one polling center, what about across the city?

This voting process was very unusual and

suspect to irregularities, I have no faith in the

outcome. We went to our usual polling place at

Eagle Point school only to be told to go to Mater

Christi, which is nowhere near our home. We

then found ourselves in a long line, with

hundreds of people milling about in a small

space, very chaotic and understaffed. There

was only one voting machine, causing a big

backup, took us an hour to vote. I observed

people leaving as they had to pickup kids or

make supper for their family. This was totally

unnecessary and appeared contrived to

dissuade people from voting. Then when I read

that they did not have enough ballots and went

to written forms, which were not controlled, the

whole vote became suspect to manipulation. I

laughed at the Democrat's caucus process in

Iowa, but I think Albany surpassed them with an

unprofessional and highly suspect vote for a

huge bond issue. We sent a message to the

school board the first time, we do not approve.

It appears they were not happy with that answer

so they came back again and perhaps

contrived the answer they wanted.

I went to cast my vote for the Albany High

School proposition with three other eligible

people. Not one of us was asked for

identification. No one in the polling area when I

was there was asked. The people collecting

signatures were unknown to me, so they had

no idea who any of us were. I could have

returned and voted my way multiple times.

I voted at Mater Christi at 4:15 pm. There were

no ballots left. I waited for 30 minutes. After

the wait, I signed in at the registration book and

my name was then printed by the school district

employee onto a separate clip board. She then

handed me a piece of paper that I checked a

box on. It was not a ballot. I checked the box I

desired and then stood with the document for 5

minutes. I asked her where I filed the

document and she took it from me and placed

in a pile under the sign in book on the

registration table. There was no secure

location for my vote. It looked like it was placed

in a manila folder on the table. I have concern

that my vote left unsecured and could have

been uncounted. When I left the polling place

there was a very long line. I explained to the

people in the line - that there was two lines -

one for the first half of the alphabet and one for

the second. There were no signs - so people

were waiting in the wrong lines. My husband

arrived to vote and left - returning to vote later

because the line was too long.

I was supposed to vote at ASH. I arrived after

work. The lines were very long. Finally as I

neared the head of the line, the ballots ran out.

The staff told us they had called 30 minutes

before to say they were low on ballots. They

tried to call again and their call went to voice

mail. After waiting longer to see if ballots would

arrive, I finally had to leave at 6:25 as I had

another meeting I had to attend. Many other

people were arriving as I left. There were

probably 50 people waiting when the ballots ran

out plus those coming in as I left. I was there

over 45 minutes and did not get to vote. I do not

believe this voting process passes the sniff test!

My wife & I went to the old School 16 on N.

Allen St at 3 on Tuesday. We had a short line 8 -

10 people lined up to sign in. I noticed a line at

the 1 (?) voting machine & no one was using

the voting machine. It turned out it was

jammed. A worker was opening & closing the

machine. He called someone (Albany County

BOE ?) an stated that it would be at least 20

minutes for some one to show up to fix the

machine. We could slip our ballots in a slot in

the machine to be counted later. That is what

we did. Why not have 2 machines? Cost?

My polling place was moved and I was not

notified ahead of time. My neighbors had the

same experience. I voted but they did not- One

because she did not know where the North

Albany Academy was and the other because

she was afraid of that neighborhood after dark.

My wife and I experienced a slight delay in

voting. We arrived at 10:00 a.m. at Mater

Christi. We found two tables set up to serve 4

different sections of the alphabet. Two

worker/volunteers were stationed at each

section.Two individuals were ahead of us at the

last part of the alphabet.

The workers were both helping a man who was

at the wrong polling place; they directed him to

ASH based on their review of their green

pamphlet.

Next an elderly lady occupied the workers

because she was also at the wrong polling

place. Based on her street address they

directed her to Eagle Point School, completely

across town!

Our turn was next and we voted without delay.

Who knows if the two people who were re-

directed ever made it to vote.

Upon entering the Pine Hills Elementary school,

there were three lines for voting. No direction

was given by personnel as to what the lines

represented. The voters in line had to inform

newcomers of the apparent alphabetical

assignment of the lines. When a voter

approached the registration table, my husband

and I observed that the personnel often did not

check signatures. In addition, a child was

passing out the paper ballots. Also, there was

no instruction given as to where to place those

ballots. People wander around the machine,

placed ballots in the wrong spot or simply left.

We stood by the machine and told voters for a

time where to correctly cast their ballots. One of

the personnel eventually started collecting

some ballots in a manila envelope even though

there was there was an emergency slot on the

machine for that purpose.

The link on the Times Union article to this site

is broken - you get a Page Cannot Be Found

error. It is on this page:

http://www.timesunion.com/local/article/Albany-

High-project-opponents-mull-legal-challenge-

6820498.php

You are probably losing a lot of people with

stories.

The link is coded as:

http://www.albanytaxpayers.org%2C/

The "%2C" needs to be taken off.

I was personally able to vote after waiting 30

minutes at School 19, however 2 people I was

with were forced to leave due to the wait. The

issue was the long, long line. I saw people who

saw the line just turn around and walk out.

People didn't know there was two separate

lines depending on last name because no one

there got out of their seat to address it. The

whole thing seemed like amateur hour. It's hard

enough to get people out to vote to begin with

and then these shenanigans take place. No

question that people saw a gigantic line and

said to hell with it.

I personally was able to vote in the correct

place . This is because I knew from a prior

mistake and the fact that I work for the city and

as a poll insp that my regular election and

school board site were different. Once there the

site was not well marked set up properly and

minimumally staffed. They could barely take

care of me at 8 am . I am sure they had great

difficulty later in the day when people were

more inclined to vote. The general public can

barely handle voting at the correct place for

general election . what better way to get your

proposal passed than to not have people able

to vote . I do not feel the board did a good job

letting voters know where when to vote and

especially the Truthfulness of the the proposal

without the smoke and mirrors routine that has

been going on. Have the election the same as

the general during a primary or the regular like

it was in November it's easier and fairer for

everyone

I went to my regular voting location (Partridge

St Hybernian Hall) only to find no one there.

Went to School 19 on New Scotland to find that

was where I was to vote. Never received any

notification of any change in where I would vote

for the HS school vote. How many just didn't

vote because they didn't know where they were

supposed to go? It was just pot luck that I had

the time to drive around to find my voting

location.

I voted up at Eagle Point and the machine was

down, wouldn’t accept the ballots. Which at this

point I was waiting for 20 minutes for the lady to

fix the machine. She decided to have us all

feed the ballots through a front slot (on the

machine) that appeared to just drop down to

the bottom of the machine.

How were they differentiated from the previous

counted ballots? How were these ballots

counted? Where they combined with those

ballots already counted? Did they reopen the

machine and feed them through the normal

process? Are they just left at the bottom and

hand counted? If so at what point?

My wife and I walked in to vote @ 6:00p.m. @

The Albany School of Humanities. I knew

something was wrong right away as the 2 lines

were almost out the door. We waited for 10

minutes, and the line never moved. During that

time, only one person voted... the voting booths

were empty.

The people manning the tables seemed to be

doing everything in their power to "slow" the

process down. No explanation was given for

the slowness of the lines...

Returning Later @ 7:30, it took us twenty

minutes to move through the line. I doubt that

there were 10 people in my line at that time.

When I got to the table I gave the person my

name, Charles George. My wife, Mary George

had just voted. The person looked at me

blankly as if she had no idea how to find my

name in the list. I looked down for her and

said, "Here it is!" right here.. I'll just sign and

move along... She didn't appear too happy

about this happening so quickly! My name was

next on the list right after my wife's name, This

should not have been a problem.

The people manning the table were not helpful,

and did not appear to want to help.

It looked to me like a deliberate attempt to

make the process so difficult that people would

give up and leave....

At Albany School of Humanities, I waited in line

(that was moving at a remarkably slow pace)

for approximately 45 minutes. They ran out of

ballots when I was half way through the line.

Between 30-50 voters were in line at the time

they ran out, and because they had no

indication if or when they would get more

ballots, the majority of us left. I had an

obligation. Others that were coming into the

building as we were leaving turned around and

got back in their cars. This happened between

6 and 7 pm.

I also would add that even though I normally

vote at St. Sophia, there was a sign on the door

when we got there telling voters to go to ASH or

Mater Cristi. Many guessed wrong and ended

up having to wait in line at both locations.

Voters in line at ASH told us they also ran out of

ballots elsewhere.

Voted at 700 Washington Ave (AHS) around

4:20. This was the voting site for the 11th Ward

only, and my wife and I were the only voters on

hand. Our voter numbers as written next to our

names on a separate sheet by one of the poll

inspectors were said to be 37 and 38. The

DS200 ballot counter read 73 and 74 after each

of our ballots were scanned. Significant gap in

numbers - perhaps an issue, perhaps not.

My concern with voting was the fact that no

identification was checked.

I went to my polling place, Hibernian Hall on

Ontario St, but there was no one there. I went

to School 19. There was a long line. I waiteded

45 minutes, during that time several people

came and looked at the line and left. There

were two workers who had the books with the

names and one who handed out ballots. Never

have I seen so few workers at an election.

There was no way an elderly person would

have been able to stand in line to 45 minutes to

an hour.

I care less about the outcome of this vote than

the fact that we do not know what the results

would have been if it were run correctly.

It defies reason that such an important vote

would have had so few resources dedicated to

it.

How is it possible to the school board to certify

their own election? That is a clear conflict of

interest.

I attended the vote at the Montessori School

around 6 p.m. The person in front of me

obtained the last scanner ballot. I was given a

white sheet of paper entitled a "Paper Ballot"

and an accompanying Gray envelope with an

Affidavit typed on the outside of the envelope. I

was told to fill out the Paper Ballot and at the

table and put it in the Gray envelope and then

sign the envelope. I told them that I had seen

some conflicting information about whether an

Affidavit Ballot was legal, so they gave me the

phone number of a woman at the

Superintendent's office named Catherine, I

believe. I explained to her that I wanted to wait

for a scanner ballot and she told me that they

would be on their way. When I asked for a time

frame, she said she couldn't tell me. I asked if

they would be there before 9 p.m. and she said

that she could not guaranty that they would.

She told me to fill out of the white Paper Ballot.

When I went to complete the Paper Ballot and

then the Gray Affidavit envelope, I saw that it

called for a notary block. I asked for a notary

and no one there was a notary. So, I called

Catherine again. I told her about the Gray

envelope and she told me not to complete that

form. She told me to complete a Paper Ballot

and to put that in a white envelope to be

collected by the person running the poll. After

the call, I told the person running the election at

the school and he said that they didn't have

white envelopes and to fill out the Gray one. I

told him that Catherine had told me not to, so

I experienced significant delays at my polling

location.

First, it was the first time I've ever voted in that

part of the building.

Second, when I entered, it was a mad house. A

high volume of voters should never be the

reason that a polling location becomes overrun.

There was absolutely no structure to the

madness.

Third, I found the line furthest from the door

and went to the back. I waited a half hour to

inch toward the front. As I neared, one of the

poll workers directed a woman from another

line to get out of line and get into ours. He then

shouted that he told everyone to line up

alphabetically. Most people groaned and

switched lines. Some people shouted back at

him. It was unorganized and highly

unprofessional to engage in such behavior. I

will also note that he made no announcements

while I was there other than when he shouted at

the entire crowd trying to vote. Some people left

from line and others at the door never came in

to vote because of this madness. Signs would

have been helpful. Not being yelled at would

have been helpful too.

The line over at Mater Christi was ridiculous

long and my wife and I were just not able to

wait in a line of that magnitude. We have 2 kids

under the age of 2 so this was just not possible.

I am a patient person and I understand that

lines can get long but there was just something

not quite right about the situation. My wife and I

were very disappointed we were not given the

chance to vote.

I was not informed ahead where my polling

place is. When I got to the polling place where I

usually voted, I was told that it was transferred

to another place. I got to vote but maybe there

are other voters who may not have bothered to

go to the new polling place.

I arrived at the polling place at 610pm to find a

roomful of people (60-80) in three lines. [In

previous school votes there, I found 0-2 voters

and a process of about one minute.] A voter

directed us to get in the first line nearest the

door. There were three poll workers and one

small child (6-8 years of age) behind the

counter. As we advanced in the first line, the

male clerk asked our name and gave a ballot if

we had a last name from A-G, He pointed out

that lines 2 and 3 were for voters H-O and P-Z.

There were no signs advising this.The clerk in

the middle was handling H-O and also

recording all names on a yellow legal pad.

While I was near the front of line #1 the male

clerk stated that there were only 50 ballots left;

he made a phone call. As I was waiting in line

#2, clerk #2 left the room and returned with

more ballots.

After she had returned and voters were using

these copied ballots, a man complained that

the machine was rejecting these ballots. After

a few minutes it was determined to place these

ballots in the emergency bin on the machine. I

voted and left by 640pm.

The people were restless and complaining. I

do not know how many voters left the room

without voting.

My wife and I went to vote at Mater Cristi. The

line was so long that she missed an

appointment she had for 4:30. We were

appalled and shocked by the lack of booths and

privacy stands for so many voters to fill out their

ballot. It seemed like a 3rd world country with

only one machine for so many wanting to vote

and lack of privacy for our ballots. What a

disgrace and travesty on ourfreedom to vote

when it is so mishandled, or is it simply

manipulated ?

How can our schools be well administered

when even a local voting day

shows such incapability! Spending money on

educating parents&working

with problem students to build both skills and

morality would be far better

spent. It would keep more residents in Albany

who are leaving due to already being unable to

pay such high taxes; and this project assures

us they will soon go up again. It's not buildings

that teach children skills and

integrity; it's involved parents, teachers and city

officials showing commitment, caring and

honesty, and that means using resources for

their

benefit .... not for unsound power and politics.

while I was standing in line to vote there were at

least 3 voters that were at the wrong polling

place. Usually we vote at Holy Names, but it

was changed this time . It was confusing

I checked online on the morning of the 9th and

was informed that Ward 8 was to vote at 108

Whitehall.

We got to that voting site and were informed

(after a very brief wait) that our polling place

was Mater Cristi school.

The wait at Mater Cristi was too long especially

for my partner who cannot stand for more than

a few minutes without severe pain. We left &

due to previous commitments we were not able

to make another attempt. We would have

voted NO

There were no ballots when I arrived to vote at

the School of Humanities on Whitehall Road

around 6:30PM. After a wait of 1/2 hour we

were given paper absentee ballots to fill out. I

filled mine out and placed in in the slot of the

voting machine. It was not tallied electronically

and I'm not sure my vote was even recorded. I

was not even told where to place the ballot; I'm

assuming I put it in the right slot, but there were

no personnel around to ask. This was highly

unprofessional. There really should be a re-vote

because these irregularities call into question

the final tally, which according to reports was a

288 vote difference out of about 8000 cast.

I feel that your question of where we voted

does not matter as the process was botched

and rigged as the voting process was done by

the school board not the board of elections.

Since the vote was yes the fix was in and see

that the vote was yes there won;t be another

vote the school board won great for them sucks

for us that wanted to vote fairly and sucks for

us that now have to have taxes increased to

pay for the hs that is disrespected by the

students and disrespected by facilites, and the

school district for not tending to the up keep

now you want us to pay for bigger and better

when you could handle what was never

maintend thanks a bunch.

We have a neighborhood website that we post

info on. Many of responded this is my

response to the neighborhood site the second

post is my post that I put on Facebook and the

local news media.

Joe and everyone else. unprepared is an under

statement. My theory then you will really see

how bothced. ok If you take the numbers of

5300 expected to vote for the WHOLE city of

Albany divide by 3. Why three aprox average of

voters of age per housing unit such as house,

condo, apt. not whole apt building but each apt

unit that pays rent. Why I am figuring mom,

dad, and one child old enough to vote divide

5300 by 3 you get 1,766. Really the school

board thought that only 1766 units were going

I did not have problem when voting on 2/9/16.

However, I feel there are several issues why

this vote should be recalled.

1) Why was this referendum put to a vote in

February instead of May when school budgets

are normally voted on?

2) The school board has not been fully

transparent.

3) How is it possible that the school board was

not prepared for a large voter turnout when the

referendum so very important to all taxpaying

homeowners.?

4) We need to be assured that the "substitute"

ballots were properly secured and tallied and

that all absentee ballots were counted.

I went to Henry Johnson Library and when I told

the poller where I live she says "you have to go

vote at Hackett School". I said no I don't and

showed her the website showing my district had

many choices in where to vote including the

Library. I said, "by the way I want to yes". Her

eyes lit up and said "ok I then can give you a

paper ballot." It all seemed very shaky.

Especially her not knowing what districts could

vote there. I came to realize I could have voted

in every polling spot if I wanted. What is more

disconcerting is why couldn't people vote any

where they wanted? it seemed like a big scam

to me. Another black eye for this area.

There are many scenarios like my own, which

are provided here to document problems with a

local election system. I brought my aunt and

uncle to a school budget vote to Mater Christi

School. They are over age 80 and waited over

30 minutes to sign the register. The polling

station ran out of pens to mark ballots.

Relatives had no privacy marking their ballots.

They waited 25 minutes to record ballots, since

there was only one voting machine. Several

elderly people left having health problems,

which disallowed them from standing in long

lines to vote. There were no chairs to

accommodate the disabled or aged. No one

was available to help elderly into the structure,

and I now realize there was no public

announcement offering the elderly rides to vote.

With large crowds, there were fire safety and

security issues.

After bringing relatives home, I went to vote at

my usual location, Eagle Point Elementary

School, where I waited 25 minutes in line to

sign the register. They were mandating that

inspectors write down the name and address of

every voter. They told me they were "ordered"

to do that. I questioned the legality and asked

permission to review the register they were

creating; it did not have any institutional name

on it. I was not sure who would retain

information or if it would be made public. They

did not find my name in any register and

directed me to All Saints School. (The

The first time I went to vote there was a man

standing outside the entrance to the school. He

announced that there was at least a one hour

wait to vote. I and five other people entering at

that time turned around and left. It was about

4:45 pm.

I came back about 6:30 and again the lines

were astounding. I was determined to wait and

so I did. I did witness several couples give up

and leave however.

I do wonder about the other people who left at

4:45. Did they ever return? Maybe work or

personal obligations made it impossible for

them to try to vote againn.

I went to School 16 just after 7am, but after I

filled out my ballot I found that the machines

were not working. They instructed me to put

my ballot in an envelope and they wrote my

name on the envelope and told me to come

back. I went back after 9am, and they gave me

the envelope back and I placed it in the

machine.

Our family encountered process irregularities

while voting at Pine Hills

Elementary School, 41 North Allen Street,

Albany, NY. We have contacted the Albany

County Board of Elections twice to report the

issues we encountered, but they have not

returned our calls. We thought we would

provide this summary of our concerns in the

hopes that appropriate action will be taken to

nullify the vote and order a re-vote at a later

date.

My wife went to vote at 11:30 am on Tuesday,

2/9/2016 and encountered serious

disorganization -- polling staff asked individuals

to yell out their names in order to get voters into

the right lines to sign the registry and obtain a

ballot. Next, there were no privacy screens in

place at the tables where one fills out their

ballots. No pens were available to complete

ones ballot; voters were encouraged to borrow

another individual's pen after they completed

their ballot.

My daughter and I reported to the location to

cast our votes a little after 6 pm on Tuesday

evening. We encountered the same

disorganization in that no signage was in place

to organize voters into lines to sign the registry.

A young man finally yelled out for voters to get

in three lines based upon the first letter of their

last name. Staff at the registry tables were

passing registration books back and forth as

When I went to vote yesterday at the ward15

voting location, Eagle Point school, the set up

did not comply with handicapped access

regulations, making it difficult and in many

cases impossible for elderly hanicapped

individuals to vote.

Also several people who went to the

Presbyterian church on Western Ave in Albany,

our normal voting location , were directed

deliberately, by a note on the door, to Mater

Christi Church , New Scotland Ave. Out and

out lie. Confusion prohibited voters from ward

15 from voting.

Sleazy and underhanded tactics. Dirty election.

I call and insist on a revote.

I was at the School of HUmanties when they

ran out of ballots. I left and due to family

responsibilities, could not return. I was going to

vote YES, just like others who left. So, quit

stirring up the discontent, especially if you live

outside the City and this doesn't affect your

property taxes.

We are temporary out of the country and spent

over $80 going back and forth with ballot.

Election should have been held during normal

election process in November by Board of

Election and not by the school board during a

time when voters may be away for winter

months. question...if the school board had won

this past November when it was voted on would

they have held this second voting process???

I arrived at Hackett Middle School and saw no

signs indicating it was a polling place. Further

investigation led me to one small sign near the

south driveway. I followed it to a locked door

"out back (c.10 AM). Knocked (no response). I

was leaving when the door opened and I was

directed to a small back room where I was the

only voter (several election employees). Easily

my strangest voting experience in forty-plus

years in Albany.

I went to the library and waited for one minute.

I signed the book and voted. Parking was

ample and voting was easy.

We voted at Hackett and I was #410 and like

the people immediately in front of me, I

received an absentee ballot. They said they

might get more ballots in but couldn't be sure. I

was instructed to put my name and ballot

number on the outside of an envelope and the

# inside on the informal ballot. We got there at

8:10 voted at 8:30.

I just want to register my total lack of

confidence in the Tuesday vote.The ineptitude

of the school district "leaders" is astounding.

I was able to vote w/o incident Tues afternoon

at Montessori Magnet. However, by the time my

husband got there he was given a different type

of ballot that was then handed back to a

worker.

I just want to register my total lack of

confidence in the Tuesday vote.The ineptitude

of the school district "leaders" is astounding.

I was able to vote w/o incident Tues afternoon

at Montessori Magnet. However, by the time my

husband got there he was given a different type

of ballot that was then handed back to a

worker.

I voted at the school on Tremont Street Albany,

Tuesday evening, 2/9/16 at 6:42 PM.

There were no ballots, and I had to vote on

paper. When the individual took my ballot, he

put it in a manila envelop stuffed with dozens of

other ballots. No lock box, just a manila

envelope on a chair.

When I served in Iraq, a war torn, third world

Country, I as an MP oversaw security for said

elections.

even there, they had a lock box for the ballots.

Not in the City of Albany.

I feel that my vote could easily been changed or

tampered with.

I have no, no, no, confidence that my vote was

recorded as vote. I feel betrayed, and used. I

am a Veteran, and to have my vote stolen, as I

believe it was, is very traumatic to me.

Three people in my family voted at Eagle Point

at different times during the day. Everything

there ran smoothly. No surprises. In and out in

a few minutes. Nothing negative - except our

Neanderthal neighbors.

I went to vote at my regular voting place on

Western Avenue at 530 which I believe is

called all saints academy and was told there

was no voting at that site and they did not know

where to direct me. I had to spend time in my

car looking up voting places on my phone for

the correct site for my address. We did not

receive any post cards telling us the site had

been changed. I then drove to Mater Christi

school , had a great deal of trouble finding

parking, the line was out the door, and it took

me well over an hour to finally cast a vote. I'm a

senior and am fortunately able to do computer

searches on my phone. I know that there are

many who are not and most likely gave up and

went home. At the voting place there was only

ONE machine for hundreds of people. I was

told this same location had also run out of

ballots earlier. I was very disheartened at how

this vote was managed. It felt like they were

trying to make it hard for people to vote. I would

like to see the current vote disqualified or at the

very least a second vote held for those who

were unable to vote.

I was not informed where I was to vote, had to

find the location myself.I agree with TU there

should be a revote.Our taxes are too high.Why

can't they rehab the building.It seems ridiculous

to spend millions and have our taxes increase,

for some students to cause destruction.The

money could be spent more efficiently.Would

like to leave NYS. Kathy Sheehan is too

frivolous with our money. Not a good rep for the

city of Albany. She does not have our best

interests.

I was not informed where I was to vote, had to

find the location myself.I agree with TU there

should be a revote.Our taxes are too high.Why

can't they rehab the building.It seems ridiculous

to spend millions and have our taxes increase,

for some students to cause destruction.The

money could be spent more efficiently.Would

like to leave NYS. Kathy Sheehan is too

frivolous with our money. Not a good rep for the

city of Albany. She does not have our best

interests.

The ballot I got said absentee ballot. The

machine that was there to take the ballot was

beeping so the gentleman that was there said

to shove it into the slot.. I was given an envelop

to put my ballot in. The lines to vote were long

and not properly identify until you were close to

the desk. The school I voted from had a school

function going on and parking was hard to find.

My wife and I went to vote Tuesday at Eagle

Point Elementary school at 1044 western ave.

When we got there we were handed a ballot but

when we went to the voting machine to scan

our ballot it wasn't working. We were told to put

the ballot in a tub under the machine. This was

unaccepatable to me. How do we know if our

ballot was counted and how do we know it was

registered properly? It made me question the

whole process. When we went home we called

the board of elections line and were told that

this was happening at other sites also. This

makes me question how the whole process

was handled and weather it was an honest

process. I feel the election should be done over

and the next time there should be enough

ballots and everyone should have a chance to

vote and the machines should be in proper

working order.. In this day and age it is mind

boggling that something like this can happen.

My polling place was locked!

My polling place was locked and I was not told

of the change in polling locations.

I was unable to vote due to the change of

polling location and no information regarding

the change.

I served as a poll inspector at North Albany

Academy. I witnessed quite a number of

people being shuffled around to various polling

places. One in particular, had a mailing from

the district, saying he was to vote in North

Albany. He was showing this to the two other

inspectors, Willie and Simone, and they

agreed, but our book said he was to vote at

Arbor Hill Library. He was disabled, clearly, and

had walked here, and now had to walk back to

the Library. There were numerous people from

his area, who were told wrong. Messed up. I

did vote.

I was not aware of the change in polling

location. When I finally found out where to go, I

was not even IDed before voting!

My polling location was changed and I was not

aware until I tried to vote at New Covenant

Presbyterian Church. Once I got to the right

place, I was not IDed and was able to vote.

My polling place was not holding votes and I

was unable to vote because of this. No-one

informed me of the change in polling locations.

We (Margie & Barry Manning) live in the Albany

Shaker Park area off Albany Shaker Road. We

have in recent years voted in the Atrium

Nursing Home on Henry Johnson Blvd. And we

voted in the first AHS proposal there. This last

vote we went to the Atrium and found that this

was not the voting place and the resectionist

said many people have come in to vote from

this area but she did not know where to send

them or us. When we actually found where to

vote (school #20) we were only #'s 14 and 15 to

vote. When we told the people at the polling

place of the confusion their response was "we

wondered why no one from the hill had come

in". My wife called the School Board to

complain she was greetedabrup t ly and told

that notices were sent out informing voters of

the polling location change, which we believe

not to be true because we asked many of our

neighbors if they had received a notice and not

one had. We believe this was deliberate to

exclude the Shaker Park area from voting

because most of us are homeowners and are

aginst the New AHS proposal.

Voting was poorly publicized:most people didn't

even know there was a budget vote taking

place.

The distance to the polling place was a

hardship...no direct bus access, too far to walk.

Thank you for initiating this survey

Was able to vote "NO" but definitely am upset

with how this vote was conducted!!! Would the

shortage of ballots be accepted in a PRIMARY

ELECTION....I THINK NOT....WHAT IF THIS

WAS FOR THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED

STATES? WOULD THESE PRACTICES BEW

CONDONED?

l AM TOTALLY IN FAVOR OF ANOTHER

VOTE!!! OUR "NO" VOICES WERE HEARD

ONCE BUT FELL ON DEAF, DEFIANT EARS,

LETS TAKE BACK ALBANY

VOTERS....CHEERS FOR MIKE CONNERS

FOR TRYING TO MAKE THIS

HAPPEN....THANK YOU

I was at the New Scotland Elementary School

approx. 3:15pm . I was fourth in line and was

told the voting machine was jammed. Neither

of the people working at this location had any

idea how to deal with this. After multiple calls

and 25 minutes later it was decided that they

would use hand written votes which would be

dropped into a slot. 30 minutes later I voted.

During this time several people left without

voting. Witnessing this confusion makes me

wonder if these votes ever made it anywhere

and if they were ever counted!! The entire thing

was disgraceful and this vote should be redone.

At this point I have no faith or trust in this

system. With the amount of school taxes we

pay we should have a loud and clear voice in

this decision!!!!

We (Margie & Barry Manning) live in the Albany

Shaker Park area off Albany Shaker Road. We

have in recent years voted in the Atrium

Nursing Home on Henry Johnson Blvd. And we

voted in the first AHS proposal there. This last

vote we went to the Atrium and found that this

was not the voting place and the resectionist

said many people have come in to vote from

this area but she did not know where to send

them or us. When we actually found where to

vote (school #20) we were only #'s 14 and 15 to

vote. When we told the people at the polling

place of the confusion their response was "we

wondered why no one from the hill had come

in". My wife called the School Board to

complain she was greetedabrup t ly and told

that notices were sent out informing voters of

the polling location change, which we believe

not to be true because we asked many of our

neighbors if they had received a notice and not

one had. We believe this was deliberate to

exclude the Shaker Park area from voting

because most of us are homeowners and are

aginst the New AHS proposal.

First went to my regular voting location, there

was a sign saying its not a voting location, call

school board- did that and was directed to vote

at Mater Christi, Had to go back to work; later,

about 4:45 went there and was advised by an

acquaintance I saw there that they were

running out of ballots. I verified this at one o the

voting tables- more ballots were coming they

said. Meanwhile they couldn't say when, the

lines were long, and I had an upcoming

appointment. So I could not vote, after two

attempts.

I arrived to vote at School 19 (New Scotland

Avenue) around 5:30 p.m. The waiting line

stretched out of the room where the voting was

taking place, and well out into the hall. If I had

to guess, there were 50-60 people in line. I

have voted at School 19 many times, and there

has never been a line of more than three or

four people before.

My wife is disabled, and I cannot leave her for

more than an hour or so at that time of day. I

had already been away for a half hour at

evening services at Temple Israel, and I

guessed that the wait to vote would be at least

an hour (the line did not appear to be moving),

so I went home without voting.

As noted, my wife is disabled, so she votes by

absentee ballot. We could be wrong, but we do

not recall her receiving an absentee ballot for

this referendum.

Good Morning,

While attempting to vote on Tuesday I checked

the website for the polling

place.(albanyschool.org) I live in Ward 8 and

the site indicated Mater Christi. I went to Mater

Christi and attempted to vote but was told I had

to go to School of the Humanities down on

Whitehall Road.This is approximately 2-3 miles

away.It is my opinion that this election was

made difficult for people to vote and I hope you

proceed with your lawsuit.Thank~you for trying

to help us ! Molly Larson

This is Regina Dew, again. Just got off the

phone with Catherine Culligan? and the School

Districts Lawyer, Paul?, listening in. She had

called me earlier wanting to talk to me later. I

told her my time limits, need to be at the

Doctors at one. By 11;30 they had not

called....tried tracking her down and finally

succeeded....she tried to blow me off, saying

she talked to me at the polls, and quoted me as

saying I said everything went well....I said not

quite and related the story of numerous people

with printed material from the school

district...sending them to the wrong. Being one

of the few caucasian poll workers, I feel not

heard.

i can not express my outrage enough!. It

started when I went to St Sophia to vote. A note

on the door stated I must either go to the ash

school or all saints. I figured I would go to all

saints, Upon arrival i waited in line 1.5 hours to

find that I was in the wrong place. I then drove

to the ash school to find that there were no

ballotts available to vote with. I was told that

new ballots were on the way . I waited another

hour and fifteen minuets. I then asked if anyone

knew of when they might arrive. I was given a

phone number to call that was constantly busy.

I again asked if anyone could assist me , I was

told I could write my ballot on a piece of paper. I

was amazed by the level of apathy and

incompetence that was I receiving. I was

growing more and more frustrated because I

had to make dinner for my family and wasted

so much time for an event that should have

taken only minuets to complete. In conclusion

as a taxpayer I feel that the vote is tainted and

incomplete. I would have loved to cast a vote

that concerned my family and wallet. I just feel

that in a vote that was very very close in count ,

That my vote would have mattered. Where is

the accountability to make sure each tax payer

has a fair and equal opportunity to vote on

important matters?

When I got into the School of the Humanities,

Whitehall Road, there was no one in front of

me. I said "hello", two women and one man

were looking for something and couldn't agree

on it, and they let me wait for about 5 minutes

without giving me my ballot.

It seemed that there was complete confusion. I

said to the man, who came after I did,

"confusion"," that is what we need.".

Once I got my ballot, it took me less than a

minute to fill it out and success-

fully scan it. My ballot was counted. Please to

not publish my name,etc.

Our polling place was changed to the Hibernian

Hall a few years ago. On Tuesday I went to

vote on Ontario Street, no voting, I proceeded

to previous voting place at the previous School

#19, on New Scotland Ave. I was able to vote

there. Machine was jammed, so votes were

deposited in a drawer under the voting

machine. I feel that leaves big chance of

human error, both being lost in the shuffle or

counted incorrectly.

When I came up to the table to sign the register

and receive my ballot, I was asked to give my

name and also my address. It was checked by

the woman with the register (for verification?),

but also written down separately in another

notebook . The woman writing in the notebook

had trouble with my address and asked me to

give it several times, then the woman with the

register told her not to bother asking me as she

could give it to her from the register. After that,

a number was assigned to my name that I

believe may have been the ballot number, and

it was written down next to my name in the

notebook.

I found this unusual, but I assumed that the

ballot and the notebook would be collected to

separate locations. Since they were not, the

school district is in possession of material that

allows them to easily determine how I and each

person in my ward voted, and connect each

ballot to each name and where we each live. I

don't know if it's illegal to collect the information

this way, but it is certainly irregular, as well as

uncomfortably open to abuse.

I know only the first name of only one of the

women at the table (I read it off her name tag),

but these women were doing what they were

instructed to do and are not the source of the

irregularity.

I would feel more secure if I knew these

materials were destroyed, or at least

dissociated from one another. I would like to

Voted at Mater Christi around 7:00PM. Took

over 30 minutes to complete the process. No

one was coordinating the operation and the

place was packed, so there was mass

confusion. The problem at that time was that

they only had one (1) voting machine, so it was

the choke point in the process. Five people that

I knew got fed up and walked out without

voting. At least two people that I didn't know

walked in, looked around and said they were

leaving because the hassle wasn't worth it. I

and one other person that I spoke with were

back a second time after having come first

around 4:00PM only to find that they had run

out of ballots and didn't know if they could get

more.

The process was completely smooth at Hackett

Middle School at about 5-m. Everything went

just fine.

I had an approximate 20 minute wait in line.You

could here someone yelling that we have run

out of ballots but more care reroute,we just

don't know how long it will be before the ballots

arrive..

I was handed a "ballot"told to place my vote. I

then returned it to the gentleman who handed it

to me.I am not sure if my vote was ever

submitted to the Board of Elections??

We went to our normal polling place to vote and

was told there was no voting there and they did

not where to go to vote.

My wife and I awaited at least a 3/4 hour wait at

Delaware Community school. The people at

the the sign-in desk were terribly inept and

flustered with the whole voting process.

We vote in every election and the process did

not follow the usual way things are done when

voting. We did sign the book with our

signatures but there was no "count" or

"number" that usually occurs to keep track of

the voters which seemed very odd.

In addition, some people came to vote and

when they were not in the "sign in" book, name

and addresses were taken, no id asked for but

were still given a ballot to vote.

I mentioned to my wife at that time that if this

was the case throughout the polling places,

people could vote numerous times.

My experience with voting irregularities started

with the misleading postcard funded by the

campaign fund of Mike Connors and continued

with the misleading and destructive sounding

robocalls (2 in fact) from the mystery voice

known as "Adam. I found it highly and

suspiciously. questionable that Connors was so

deeply involved in derailing the AHS renovation

vote. His behavior and tactics are beyond

disgusting and are totally unexplained. His

position on this matter to fight and obstruct all

efforts to improve the very degrade highschool

environment strike me as inherently immoral.

His position as a county official bears no

relationship to the levee of taxes in Albany., He

lives in Colonie/Menands, NOT ALBANY. He

has no business meddling in the affairs of the

Albany City School District. Property tax rates

for the City and County are separate from the

school district taxes, which are manged,

monitored and accounted for by the Financial

Officer of the School District. Today (2/12) a

robo call came from Connors referring voters to

this website. I called the District office to inquire

why Connors persists in picking a fight instead

of offering his experience and expertise in

reaching a positive outcome for AHS's

renovation needs and all interested parties. As

far as I can determine, the Feb. 9 voting

glitches were unfortunate and revealed

inexperience in the staffing of polling sites

rather than any nefarious purpose to skew the

vote. The underestimation of how many voters

I voted with a paper ballot at the Albany School

of Humanities on Tuesday night in the 7pm

hour. While there, they were handing out one

sheet of 8 1/2 x 11 sheet of paper to vote with.

No envelope included. When I went to vote, a

tall, blond man, who I did not remember seeing

in my line to sign the book, stepped in front of

me, and attempted to stuff a very thick

envelope into the top slot of the voting machine,

where the electronic ballots would have went.

Since that wasn't working out for him, he

stuffed this very thick envelope, obviously

stuffed with several pieces of paper, into the

blue-colored Emergency Ballot slot. He had

trouble getting it in, it was that thick. There was

absolutely no oversight of the lone voting

machine at that site. No representative of the

City School District of Albany was near the

voting machine. I could have easily have taken

out or placed extra ballots in that slot. No one

was watching. The emergency blue box was

stuffed full. Too easy to grab them out. Albany

City Common Council Member Jack Flynn was

way too close to the voters, even next to the

voting machine, and definitely too close to

those in line. Very uncomfortably close. I told

the school district to check their video, to verify

my claims. No oversight what so ever at ASH

when I was there to vote in the 7pm hour.

I arrived at the Montessori school to vote at

7:15 a.m. When I went in, they told me they did

not yet have ballots or the voter name registry.

They had called & said they should arrive in 15

mins. I waited in my car until 7:45 and then had

to leave for work. I only live a few blocks from

Montessori, so I had wanted to vote on the way

to work, in Menands, since I had a commitment

in East Greenbush after work, that would last

past 9:00 pm. However, since I knew the vote

would be close, I left work early to come back

to Albany to vote at 4:45. The women working

there were surprised to see me and told me

they did not get the things needed for voting,

until 8:15 am - and mentioned they had been

locked up somewhere downtown. I want to

mention that I did vote YES - but I still believe

another election is warranted because people

were deprived of their due process. I am

disappointed that the school board is thinking

only of themselves and not the community in

basically saying 'Tuff luck'. I am also

disappointed that Mayor Sheehan does not see

the automatic need for another vote. Thank

you for this opportunity to voice my opinion.

No place to park except for one empty spot.

Expected a number of people inside - not so.

Only one person ahead of us. Why was there

no available parking for the voters? POOR

PLANNING!

I went to to polling place that I was instructed by

mail. Only to be told that I was not listed in the

roll. I told them where I lived and they said I

should probable go to the Pine Hills Elementary

School but they were not sure. I went to the

Pine Hills Elementary School and I was listed

on the roll. I was given a ballot but could not

enter it in the machine because the machine

had jammed and nobody know how to clear the

jam. I then put my ballot into the emergency

slot.

We had to find out were to go to vote, and I

believe we should have to vote again for the

school board do to all the difficulties that

happened

we got to the polling place went in on the side

of Russell Rd door was open once inside there

were no sign telling where to go to vote.when

we found the room that it was in . the room was

so small you could just get around the table to

vote .it was a bad location for elderly people to

find and to vote

there was nobody else there to check to see

that all was done legally

While registering to vote, I was informed by the

election monitors that the machine was

jammed. I was further informed my ballot could

be placed in the "emergency box" located

under the machine. I noticed several other

voters doing the same, then immediately left

the building. Others formed a line to the right of

the machine waiting for the machine to be

cleared. As I placed my ballot in the

"emergency box", I noted several other ballots

that had been placed there by other voters

before me. At no time was ever any assurance

that the paper ballots like mine was to be

integrated with the electronic tabulations.

the place was closed and i was not able to vote

I had absolutely no problem voting at my polling

site. I always vote in every school board

election, so unlike some of these "fair weather

voters" , I knew where my polling place was. I

walked in, had friendly and helpful poll workers,

voted with no problems whatsoever, and went

on my merry way. My husband also had no

problem voting at our polling location. FYI, this

is not a grassroots action. This is old machine

Albany politics at it's best. Show some

backbone and put your names out there,

people. I have to to put my name on this form

in order to submit a statement, but you don't

have to put your name on here for me to know

who I am telling about my experience? Shame

on you.

I personally was able to vote (stood on a long

line, snaking up and down the hall), but

witnessed others who walked in and simply

could not wait in that kind of line and I saw

them turn around and leave. This was around

5 pm. I was told that they had run out of

ballots, which might explain why the line was

stalled for so long.

I have never in my 10 years of voting in Albany

(every election) seen such a mob scene at a

polling place.

Irregularities, my neighbor had to wait a long

time. She was able to vote; but when she

placed the ballot; the voting machine told her

that her ballot was stuck in the machine. She

had to call a representative to take the paper

out. They gave her a paper ballot; she is not

aware if her vote was valid or no. My neighbor's

name is Margie La Sala (518) 482-0636.

I went to vote before 9:00pm. All doors were

already closed before 9:00pm. I saw a person

in front of the school. I was able to go to the

library but I was not allowed to vote even when

other people were taking ballots to vote. This

was at Eagle Point Elementary School. My

name is Maria Onetti-Bischoff (518) 437-9456.

voted at eagle pt-not my regular voting place-

only 1 voting machine-didnot opened until 7

;23

my wife and I never received our absentee

ballots

Normally we vote at St Sophie's church, we

found out that moved us to Ash school. No

notice, no flyers were sent to us. Our neighbors

all around our neighborhood did not know

where to vote either. Many people just gave up

and didn't vote. Another election in the spring

should be held especially for the elderly and

keep us informed of where to go!

My husband and I were able to vote at ASH

around 7 pm, though there was a wait. The

ballots were just photocopied pieces of paper.

When we went to put our votes in a receptacle,

the receptacle was overflowing. Votes were on

the floor and on top of the bin. My husband said

he had to cram his vote in the bin. Anyone

could have picked up the votes that were

outside of the receptacle. Votes could have

easily been lost or discarded. Some were in

envelopes and some were not. I don't think this

vote was done properly, whatever the outcome.

I think there needs to be an investigation and

perhaps the vote done over. Why weren't the

votes scanned in as they have been in the

past?

Also, this is the fourth voting place we've gone

to in about a year. I had to make several phone

calls in order to find out where to vote. I think a

lot of people were confused about their voting

place. The people in line with me had gone to

vote elsewhere and were sent away to come to

ASH and they were not happy. I feel as if the

city made this vote as difficult and disorganized

as it could possibly be. Why can't we all vote in

our usual polling place using scanned forms as

is now standard? Why on earth was this such a

mess?

My experience in voting for the New Albany

High School on Tuesday, February 9, 2016 at

the Ash School of Humanities was during the

day, therefore I did not have as negative

experience as other voters during the morning

and late afternoon, early evening. But all voters

should have a positive experience. I did notice

a third person at the voting table writing down

my name, (after I signed on one tablet), on a

separate tablet of paper, which I believe

included my voting sheet identification number

which is against all privacy issues.

Prior to voting, I attended the meeting at

Martel's on Monday, February 1, 2016. I was

less than satisfied as the spokesperson

indicated if this vote doesn't get approved on

Tuesday, February 9th, it will never get

approved, (which is not true). Also, the facts

were misrepresented indicating there would

only be a $19 a year increase if you had a

home value of $150,000, but it wasn't until the

last question was it brought out the bonds were

maturing and the taxpayer would be receiving a

reduction in their taxes by $165, therefore the

increase would be $184 per year.

I agree there needs to be a new Albany High

School, but I totally disagree with the current

plan, a nine year plan costing the taxpayer an

exorbitant increase in taxes over a longer

period of time. This is a real estate transaction

and not just a scholastic transaction.

The persons running the school vote at the

location where I voted were completely

unorganized. They gave no instructions as to

what was happening. They ran out of ballots

two people ahead of me and gave us paper

ballots to use. Where I voted there were not

sealed envelopes as reported on the news. We

handed the ballots in and they were put in a file

folder. Everyone's together. Nothing secure

about that. From the moment I walked into the

polling place people were commenting on the

inefficiency of the workers and the

disorganization. Regardless of how anyone

voted, either for or against you knew what the

outcome was going to be. It just leaves a sour

taste in your mouth that the vote was not on the

up and up. At least let the people who take the

time to vote feel like their vote counts.

Otherwise, why even spend the time and

money to have us vote.

I first tried to vote at Olav Sholom Apt. where I

voted on the last Albany High School budget

and it was closed. Then I went to school 27

where I had voted years ago for the school

board and after waiting for some time in line I

was told I was in the wrong place and I should

go to Mater Cristi. After looking at the VERY

LARGE crowd my wife and I went home to

have diner and came back to vote at 8:30 still to

find the line out the door. When we got inside

there was 1 voting machine and the line was

like a coiled rope winding around the room.

How can we expect the school board to handle

such a large project and educate our children

after seeing such a fiasco!!!

Arrived at Mater Christi at 4:15 pm only to find

long lines and after twenty mins were told by

angry exiting voters that there were no ballots

available to vote. Poll persons announced that

forms would be coming up from downtown.

There was no time-frame so many people left

for various reasons. They were angry and in

disbelief of the situation. One lady was very

angry and said, "they are going to hear from me

about this". A news person setting up a camera

asked her if she wanted to go on camera and

she did. I had to leave the line to pick up my

Granddaughter at 4:45 pm from a classroom at

the school. On my return with my

Granddaughter I joined my husband in line. To

alleviate the tension and chaos they had

decided to hand out paper ballots. We voted,

folded the ballot and returned it to the man at

the table. He placed it in a manila folder. It is

from this point on that we do not know what

happened to our ballots. It was a chaotic

situation and the poll persons did not seem to

know how to handle what they were facing. We

left the poling site wondering if our votes be

they "yes" or "no" were really being counted. I

strongly feel that this vote should be put aside

and a proper vote be scheduled at a later date

to allow the resident's of the City of Albany to

express their "yes"or "no" vote in an American

Democratic Election. An election that we as

citizen's of the United States can be proud of

regardless of outcome. I also feel that it was a

huge conflict of interest for the Albany School

I experienced conflicting instructions and a total

lack of professionalism on the part of the

people working the vote. Screaming out

peoples names and addresses so that

everyone in the room could hear, inability to find

names in the book due to not knowing the

simple alphabet and confusion about who was

what number (a system I think is very suspect).

Attempted to vote, but the line was too long and

there was so much confusion that other people

could not wait as well. A total mess, was not

dealt with properly and I am very angry that I

lost my right to vote.

I voted at Giffen Elementary School at

approximately 7pm. They had run our of

machine-scannable ballots and were handing

out plain ballots with plain white see-through

envelopes. My concern is that the envelopes

were see-through and anyone could hold them

up to a light and see how the voter voted. The

voted ballots were not put in any secure bag.

The envelopes were just held in a pile on the

table where the voters were signing the poll

books. The scanners have a secure slot for

ballots when the machine goes down, but they

were not using it. I'm concerned that "No" votes

were destroyed or thrown away and replaced

with "yes" votes without the voter's knowledge.

It was utter chaos with voters being denied

proper ballets and many people

leaving with disgust for the lack of lack of

organization. The school board should be

ashamed and I hope there will be another vote

to gain a true vote.

Eagle Point Elementary School squeezed its

voting apparatus into an under-sized library,

which was not ADA compliant. The narrow

aisles between bookcases could not

accommodate a wheel chair or walker -

creating a chilling effect on any potential voter

with disability.

Furthermore, there was a McCoy for County

Executive lawn sign inside the entryway - a less

than subtle hint to voters that they were in

Democratic territory. And exterior signage was

limited and confusing. A most unprofessional

setup for an important election - or any election.

Polling place failed to provide "privacy folders"

to conceal completed ballots while we were

walking from the booth to the voting scanning

machine, making it possible for any observer to

look at our ballots. As I understand it, State law

requires the polling place to provide some sort

of privacy shields to protect the secrecy of

people's vote and we have always received

privacy folders in past elections.

WAS UNABLE TO VOTE AT ALLEN STREET

SCHOOL.

NO PARKING CLODE ENOUGH TO SCHOOL.

79 YEARS OLD, TOO FAR TO WALK FROM

BANK PARKING LOT.

DISGRACEFUL.

There was a small wet curled up paper sign

attached to a tree that said "Budget Vote".

There was no signage as to which door would

admit voters.

When I expressed this I got no response.

The admission door was behind a niche at the

side of the building near the dumpsters..again

no sign.

The ballot machine had several problems but

was finally fixed.

Successfully I voted but not without too much

confusion.

I arrived at Mater Christi school and joined a

long stationary line of voters. After about 20

mins voters exiting in anger told those of us in

line that there were no ballots. They had run

out. Later a poll person announced that ballots

would be coming up from downtown but there

was no time-fame as to when they would arrive.

The lines at this time were out the door and into

the parking lot. Many people left not being able

to stay for various reasons. They were angry

and in disbelief of the situation. One woman

said, "they are going to hear from me". She

spoke on camera with a reporter at that point.

As the situation got out of hand the poll

persons decided to do paper ballots to move

the lines along. We marked our ballots and

handed them in to a man signing voters in and

he placed them in a manila envelope. It is from

this point on that I do not know if the ballots

were properly secured as required by Election

Law. I do not know if they were in fact counted.

I strongly feel that this vote should be put aside

and a proper vote be scheduled for a later date.

I also feel that this whole process was a conflict

of interest for the School District to be handling

having suffered a close defeat in November. It

is obvious to me, although they say it was not

intentional, they were making a calculated effort

to undermine a "no" vote. It started with the

scheduling of a Feb vote date knowing

residents leave for the winter months - Failing

to print enough ballots necessary for a smooth

voting experience even though they had the

Voted against the measure the first time by

absentee ballot.

Feels they were singled out this time. Was

unable to get absentee, was told they had to

pick up ballot in person. Too elderly and unable

to do so. were lied to, could have had ballot

mailed to them. They were not told this.

Feel vote was stolen from them.

JL

Went to vote three times. First time waited in

line about 15 minutes only to be told they ran

out of ballots. Left returned about 45 minutes

later. Still no ballots. Told I could write yes or

no on sheet of paper. (Yeah I was going to do

that). Return about 20 minutes later and they

did have ballots. Waited in line that no one was

sure where it was going. Finally found a line

with my last name. Received my ballot and

then had to stand in a line with about 40 people

in it to put the ballot in the only scanner in the

room. Recently having major surgery this was

no easy task. Having lived in the City of Albany

my whole life I personally have never witnessed

such a fiasco!

I tried to vote in the morning around 7:45 but

there was no indication that this was the place

to vote. I walked around the outside of the

building then tried the Library around the corner

and my usual polling place. I returned at 3pm.

There was a long line due to the repeated

failure of the voting machine. After a short time

we were told that we could leave our ballots in a

slot under the machine and leave. Many

refused to leave their ballots after a while I gave

up and deposited mine. as instructed.

For future reference, I believe this site is not

suitable for such activities there are only a few

parking places and only one way in or out of the

lot.

I walked to ASH to vote . West doors locked

and no signs for where to vote . North doors

locked , no signs . East side had a small sign

and 2 doors open . Parking lot was full , it was a

school day . No one was waiting to vote , but

there was no place to park in lot . There was on

street parking but school doors there were

locked . I informed my 81 year old , property

owning , tax paying , mother , of the situation .

She did not vote . She had voted on Election

Day at her normal polling site , Saint Sophia's ,

where there was plenty of parking and signage

. Not to mention better weather .

In the fall of 2015, we voted at the Hibernian

Hall on Ontario Street. Last Tuesday, February

9th, we went back there to find out that this

wasn't the voting location. Fortunately, my wife

guessed that since no one was at the Hibernian

Hall that the proper voting location was at the

elementary school on New Scotland Ave.

There was no sign on the door or anywhere at

the Hibernian Hall directing voters to the correct

voting location.

When we asked about this at the elementary

school, one of the voting officials tried to tell us

that the last school vote was held at the

elementary school. This is not accurate .

I believe that the voting location should have

been made clear.

Lines waiting to vote They had set up 2 tables

for registration after people complained about

the wait.....There was confusion on the part of

the workers which table people should go to.

At one time one man had difficulty submitting

his ballot in the one machine that was there and

had to ask for help.

It was like mass confusion. I don't think they

were ready for the number of people that were

there to vote.

I have been voting since 1960 and have never

seen such poor preparation .

we went to 3 places before we found where we

were supposed to be... the wait was 15 or 20

minutes because people in front of us had had

the same problem and in many cases they had

no name recorded so had to do a write in ballot

and no one seemed to know where they

were.....too many people and too few workers

I did not receive any notification of the polling

place for the vote so I went to my usual voting

place (Convenant Presby Church on Western

Ave). There was a sign stating that the polling

place was at Mater Christi on Hurst Ave. I

thought this a bit odd, but went there and

waited in line only to find out that I should be

voting at Eagle Point - which is only few blocks

from my house! I heard at both places that

there had already been several problems. I

mentioned the incorrect notice at the church,

and I have to say it was a bit of struggle for the

person in charge to understand what I was

saying - she kept asking me what address I

was questioning. She finally did make a call

and said it would be taken care of. It took me

almost an hour to finally vote at a place I could

have easily walked to. I was wondering how

many others may have given up and never

voted - one way or the other. Thank you for

following through regarding this issue.

We went to our normal polling place to vote and

was told there was no voting there and they did

not where to go to vote.

Had problem finding correct polling place, long

lines after finding polling place. Had to return

with an I'll wife because of this and to top it off,

polling place was waiting on more ballots as it

had run out of number it was allotted. Several

people that wanted to vote left with us and

weren't coming back to vote unlike us.

My Wife and I both "voted" on N. Allen St.

When we arrived we were treated courteously,

however, the voting machine was not working.

And though a nice young man was trying to get

it fixed, we waited 45 mins, finally being told to

'just put it in the slot'. I have absolutely no

confidence our votes were counted. By putting

the ballots 'in the slot' it opened up numerous

opportunities for those who did not agree with

our ballots to assure they weren't counted.

However, we had no other choice as we both

had to return to work. I was told by others they

did not vote for that very reason. I was also told

by some that voting sites were not open when

they were supposed to be, other machines

were not operative, two neighbors COULD NOT

vote because there were not enough ballots

available. I am appalled by the way this vote

was handled, so-much-so I am discussing with

friends and neighbors the possibility of legal

action to invalidate the vote. Regardless of its

outcome each and every resident of Albany

should feel confident their voice was heard.

was not aware of my poling place...had heard

via news programs that pole places might have

changes but nothing on literature that I received

contained the poling location. Needed to go to

2or 3 locations to find poling place.One of the

lines at the poling place had to wait while a

voter who had also gone to numerous places

trying to find out where his poling place, finally

he was given a write in ballot because his name

was not found.Poling personnel express

concern that numbers on ballots didn't match

up when she was giving me my ballot.

I was able to vote but they had run out of ballots

for the voting machine and had printed ballots.

The staff seemed disorganized about waht to

do.

They also ran out of envelopes to put the

printed ballots in.

When asked about the turnout, the person said

it was a good turnout and hoped for a certain

result. That sounded like politicking which I

didn't think was allowed at a polling place.

Hello Michael....living in the Shaker Park

neighborhood we had to find out where to

vote...the block where School 20 is was coned

off to make for no parking...had to park across

the street from Sacred Heart Church... they

made it hard on the senior citizen Mike keep

up the good work. If you need help keep me in

mind. JE

Yellow election card sent us to St Sophia, sign

on door to go to ASH. Got to ASH about 6PM to

find long lines, very little guidance, and a wait of

10 minutes to find they were out of ballots. I

saw many (20-25) of my neighbors leave in

disgust. My wife went back to vote, I did not,

don't know about my neighbors?

I was unable to vote because the location

where I went to vote "had three ballots left". I

was probably the 15th person in line at the time

n

I had an approximate 20 minute wait in line.You

could here someone yelling that we have run

out of ballots but more are enroute,we just don't

know how long it will be before the ballots

arrive..

I was handed a "ballot"told to place my vote. I

then returned it to the gentleman who handed it

to me(who had full access to how I voted and

control over where my vote was sent).I am not

sure if my vote was ever submitted to the Board

of Elections??

We took our place in the already-long line at

Mater Christi School (we live in Ward 8) at

about 4 PM and had just made our way into the

main room (4:15 PM) when one of the poll

persons advised that there were no more

machine ballots (only one machine was being

used) and that arrangements were being made

to obtain paper ballots. 20 minutes later the

line began to slowly move forward again when

photocopied paper ballots arrived. In the

interim, 5 to 10 persons in our immediate

vicinity left the line (there was only one line until

you came to 2 tables set up to handle your

alphabetical placement) saying that they hoped

to return later but first needed to "pick up

children at school" or simply gave up. The

completed paper ballots were not secured:

some election personnel at the desks slipped

the completed ballots in folders: two others just

put the folded ballots under piles of paper on

their desk. When we left, we received the last

two paper ballots our election person had.

Note that one of our local TV stations had a

camera person present who can attest to the

size of the crowd, the length of the line, the

voters' frustration and the lack of direction and

supervision at the polling place. It took us over

one hour to vote.

The district's web site gave conflicting

information on your polling place depending on

whether you gave your street address or ward

number. The people directly behind us in line

there was a line of about 20 people long with 3

workers when i showed up the first time. I only

had 15 minutes before i had to go to my second

job and couldn't wait so i left to return later. the

workers seemed very confused and fumbling

with papers when people were trying to get their

forms to vote. I then returned at about 830 to try

again. again, another line, not as long but still

workers fumbling with papers trying to get

voters signed in. yet, only 2 workers this time.

One worker had a stack of ballots that she said

were "no good." she put them to the side and

told the other woman not to pick from that pile.

not sure if they were filled out ballots or not. i

then came to second in line, where the old

gentleman in front of me was just trying to get

his ballot and didn't know what to do, they had

him sign on a line that wasn't across from his

name, which i thought was odd. he then was

given his ballot. i then got to my turn, where

they couldn't find my name, so i found it for

them in the book, as it was next to my wife's

name who had already been there earlier in the

day. i made sure i signed the correct line, and

took my ballot. meanwhile 1 person was writing

my name down on a yellow notepad with a

number. i believe my number was somewhere

around seven hundred ninety something. i

voted and then as i was leaving saw the man in

front of me confused on how to cast his vote. i

showed him how to put it in the machine face

up, and we were both on our way. as i was

leaving i saw what seemed to be a third poll

I was able to vote myself, but it took over 45

minutes and there was incredible confusion at

the Mater Christi polling place. This was

between 5:15 and 6:10 p.m.

Ballots were not secure; no folders were given

to those standing in line to honor the privacy of

the vote. The marking stations were not

private. People standing in line to place their

ballots in the machine would have been able to

look over my shoulder to see how I voted.

The waiting time for me was 25 minutes from

the time I marked my ballot until I got to the

machine.

The voting machine was tended by a volunteer

who happened to be an employee of the Board

of Elections (so she said) who came in at 5:30

and saw the chaos. She was able to least help

with paper jams in the machine.

I personally saw three people with marked

ballots leave the polling site because they said

that they couldn't afford to spend the time

standing in line to cast their ballot. I can't say

how many came in, looked at the line and left

without voting, but I did see some who

appeared to be doing just that.

The Board needs to do this again. The slim

approval will be forever tainted if they don't do

so. And the board must realize that the bad

taste in the mouth could make it very hard to

pass the regular budget in May.

I completed this form from a link on the

electronic times union so not sure if you want

me to complete again. I received a phone call

from Mike Connors this morning stating that if I

had an issue I should complete... so I will do so

again just to make sure you receive it. I will be

brief: I felt the election site did not protect the

confidentiality of the vote based upon the way

in which the privacy screens were set up,

voters in line entering the classroom could

literally see which response I checked if they

wanted to. Next: the poll workers were

inadequate to the task, they never explained

what type of ballot we were using nor how to

use it. The only reason I knew how to use it

was because a woman ahead of me slid it in a

slot below the electronic reader b/c the reader

wouldn't accept it. I then stated loudly that we

usually submit our votes electronically to her

but I guess not today. She just shrugged her

shoulders. If there had been anything on the

radio/tv news stating that there was an issue, I

did not hear it. I seriously think this vote was

poorly run regardless of how I voted. It amazes

me that the board underestimated the number

of folks that were going to vote based upon how

close the prior vote was and the strength of

voters feelings about the reconstruction project.

We got there early AM,(VOTED NO),the only

problem we had was them finding our name.I

heard there were a lot of problems later on in

late afternoon.Hearing about those problems

and what I read in the TU I think there should

definitely be another vote in late spring,when a

lot of NO voters are back from the warm

south.SOMETHING STINKS about this whole

thing.DONT YOU THINK !!

Thanks

Bob Harper

I normally vote at St. Sophia Church on

Whitehall Rd. I went there to vote on Tuesday

and found a note on the door saying there was

no voting at thi location. Go to Mater Christi or

the school for the Humanities. You can also

callBoard of Elections. As it was after 5pm, I did

not think the Board of Elections would be open.

I went to Mater Christi and found very long lines

and told I needed to go to school of Humanites.

I was told by a person (wearing name tag) that

she was waiting for ballots as they had run out.

I witnessed people leaving.

I voted at the Pine Hills Elementary School

between 3:00 and 4:00 (don't remember the

exact time), but was unable to insert my ballot

into the machine because of a paper jam.

There were two people ahead of me, and a few

behind me with our ballots in hand. One of the

women came over and told us to place our

ballots into a slot underneath the machine

where they apparently fell into a box. As I left

with the gentleman who was in line ahead of

me, I said, "Well, now I know how election fraud

can happen." He shrugged and put his hands

out in kind of a "What are you gonna do?"

action.

I voted at the Pine Hills Elementary School

between 3:00 and 4:00 (don't remember the

exact time), but was unable to insert my ballot

into the machine because of a paper jam.

There were two people ahead of me, and a few

behind me with our ballots in hand. One of the

women came over and told us to place our

ballots into a slot underneath the machine

where they apparently fell into a box. As I left

with the gentleman who was in line ahead of

me, I said, "Well, now I know how election fraud

can happen." He shrugged and put his hands

out in kind of a "What are you gonna do?"

action.

I sent the wrong email address to you earlier.

We went to mater Christi at 8pm there was a

line out the door, people came and left not

wanting to wait in line. We got a ballot with no

identification required. No one was checked for

id. When we found the table for a ballot we had

to wait until someone finally came over to us.

I voted at the School of Humanities and since

school was in session there were not enough

parking spaces for voters. I had to wait until

someone left their spot. I usually vote at St.

Sophia on Whitehall Rd which has ample

parking. There was no accommodation for

handicapped voters.

Even though I had a chance to vote, I am

appalled how disorganized the voting was. This

was a very critical vote and affects everyone in

the city. How they underestimated the number

of people voting is complete mismanagement

and unfair to voters who were making the

commitment to vote. The waiting time and lack

of ballots is deplorable. This was definitely an

unfair vote and should be overturned and

repeated. The citizens of this city should 've

able to be heard.

The line to vote was wrapped around the

hallway and into the actual voting "room" at

Mater Christi school. We waited over 30

minutes to enter the room. The voting was

absolute chaos. An unidentified woman was

trying to "direct" traffic. The lines were getting

mixed up. People were lined up with ballots

waiting to put them in the machine while others

were right next to the machine waiting to sign

the book. There was absolutely no privacy.

There were not enough ballots at this location.

A large truck with an LED sign was driving past

the school urging people to vote for the

proposal. The truck drove right past the

entrance to the polling location and parked at

an intersection close to the school.

We went to our normal place of voting & denied

access. Told we needed to go to Monte Christi

by a stranger. Found Monte Christi school and

waited in line with over two hundred people in

confined space to vote

It was claustrophobic, overwhelming and

frustrating. My sister, Denise Prokrym had to

leave and was unable to vote due to the time

restraint. Others in line did leave. People had

small children with them, others had to go pick

up children. My mother, Margaret Tierney, age

82, was frightened. I have to hold on to her for

fear of being mauled or pushed by crowd.

There was over two hundred (200) people

waiting in line to get to the one and only voting

machine in the building. Finding our registry's

book and receiving a ballot took us over 2

hours. In line for ballot the woman manning the

registry got up and announced "I need a break,

I have to go" and left the table, leaving in

unmanned & leaving a huge numbers of people

angry. The crowd circled the room with

entangled lines of people attempting to get to

the one machine to place their vote. A neon

sign lighted and reading "VOTE YES" was at

the corner of the school with a group of adults

picketing with signs also reading "VOTE YES".

A woman walked out of the school as we did

and looked at us and stated

"fuck this, what a joke" , and left also not voting.

I believe this was an attempt to discourage as

many people from Ward 8 as possible to

abstain from voting NO as our Ward

I am disgusted with the way this was run and

can't believe this would be legally binding given

the documented irregularities. I waited over an

hour to vote. The woman in front of me had

voted at Mater Christi her whole life and they

told her she wasn't registered. They had a

huge truck with a lighted sign to vote in favor

sitting in front of the school. People left; they

couldn't wait an hour to vote. It was so

crowded and the lines were snaking in so many

directions there was no privacy to the voting. It

was chaotic. I can't even measure the number

who left. This must be overturned. The kindest

thing I can say is it is an embarrassment.

Please let me know how I can help with this.

No wonder realtors won't show anybody a

house in Albany.

I arrived at Mater Christi around 4:35pm. There

was a line and the people coming out of the

polling room were letting those of us in line that

they were running out of ballots. I stayed in line

while others left. I was being told to leave and

return later. I choose to stay. When I finally

reached the room, there were no written signs

of where I needed to be and which line. There

was no direction or communication other than

we have no ballots. You can come back later

or fill out this paper vote. I took the paper vote.

When I handed it back in, they had no idea or

manner in which to hold it safely. Some poll

takers put them in a folder, others under a

notebook, and some were left out on the table

mixed in with other papers. So, I left upset

knowing that my vote would not be counted

correctly. I went home to call the Board of

Elections only to be told by the City of Albany

that they were not responsible for the election

and couldn't help me. They did give me a

number for the county, which I did call. Security

answered the phone and had no idea

whatsoever what I was talking about or how to

go about helping me. REALLY?? Anyway, I

also learned that $10,000 was spent to put this

vote on, with my tax dollars... WHY?

Two voting machines --- no sign indicating one

was not in working

order. Ballots removed with no process

noticeable to insure proper

handling. Voters waited while workers seemed

indifferent to

situation.

I vote at school 27. The voting took place tin he

small library instead of the cafeteria. We were

packed in with long lines. There was virtually no

privacy to vote. The "privacy booths" were on in

a corner next to the tables where people were

signing in.

Unacceptable.

At 6PM, I went to St. Sophia, there was a sign

sending me to ASH. The line at ASH was long,

about 40 people. I waited online about 20

minutes and then a worker announced there

were no ballots. She said we were welcome to

wait or leave and come back. They had no

idea when the ballots would be delivered. I

went back at 730 and voted.

Although my husband and I were able to vote,

we found our polling place to be very difficult for

elderly and handicapped people. There was no

way to reach the voting area without walking a

considerable distance from any parking area.

My husband has health problems that prevent

him from walking too far. We would have

arranged for an absentee ballot, or used a

transport chair had we known how far we had

to walk. However, the polling place was not

where we regularly vote nor where we voted in

the last referendum, and so we were not

prepared. Also, the voting area was so confined

there was absolutely no confidentiality.

Voting date held when many voters are in

florida

You held a second vote because you didn't get

a yes on the first. Now have a third vote

because we didn't get a no on the second. It's

only fair, right? What a joke, why bother with a

vote to begin with?

I had no problem voting because I went early

enough in the morning, however, I didn't think

that the voting machine should have been

placed right in front of the officials who have me

the ballot and asked my address. The voting

machine was directly in front of them where

they could probably see my vote. In fact, later

on in the day when my husband voted, the

official who helped him cast his vote was trying

to look at his ballot. Other than this, nothing

else out of the ordinary. Thank you

AFTER MARKING MY BALLOT I TRIED TO

INSERT IT INTO THE MACHINE SEVERAL

TIMES. NOTHING! AFTER REPEATED

ATTEMPTS MY HUSBAND ADVISED ME

THAT THE MACHINE WAS NOT

FUNCTIONING. IN OTHER WORDS ...IT

WAS BROKEN. THAT LEFT ONE WORKING

MACHINE. DISTRICT PERSONNEL NEITHER

ADVISED OR BLOCKED OFF THE BROKEN

MACHINE. THIS OCCURRED AT ABOUT

1:30 P.M. CAN ONLY IMAGINE THE DELAYS

AND FRUSTRATION DURING THE BUSY

HOURS.

I have voted at ASH since 1990. When I got

there , my name was not in the books and I was

told I would have to go to Hoffman Parks and

Recreation. Later in the day, I brought an

elderly woman to her voting place, Mater

Christi. I waited 30 minutes. When she came

out she was unable to vote because there were

no ballots and workers had been waiting for a

delivery for an hour already! I saw many people

leave during that time.

Additionally, the vote was scheduled when the

Tax-base would be in Florida.

I first had to find my voting place online as I

wasn't notified. Since the polls were to open at

7AM I arrived at 7:30. It was at Hackett Middle

School but there was only one small sign by the

corner of Leonard Place(a small side street)

and nothing in front. After driving to the back of

the building I saw no signs but there was a door

with kids hanging around so I tried that and was

let in. There was a closed door that was pointed

out. I went in but was told by three women that

the machine wasn't working so I couldn't vote. It

seemed very suspicious, maybe they thought I

would vote no and didn't want me to vote. I

went back that evening and was able to vote

although it seemed very unorganized. The

whole process was very disturbing. It seemed

as though the school board was trying to rig the

election by not publicizing the date or polling

places, having it in the middle of February(I'm

sure that they were hoping for a blizzard),

running it so poorly that people would give up

and not vote and allowing many chances for

fraud to take place, including, but not limited to,

miscounting of the votes. The whole process

was a complete travesty and all involved should

be fired and/or charged with whatever violations

that apply.

I had to stand in a long line for over an hour. I

was outraged and finally left without voting.

How dare they! I am white, I own a very nice

home, and I have a high income. I should not

have to vote as if I were some poor person in a

poor neighborhood!

After a 13 hour day, I went to ASH to vote. Not

my usual place, which is St. Sophia's. The

reminder post card from the Albany School

Board did not state where the voting was taking

place, nor did it state the hours. I found both

online after some digging. When I arrived, I was

told by other voters that there were no ballots,

that they had run out 45 minutes earlier, and

the voting officials had no idea when they would

be getting them. Frustrated and angry. I headed

home.

When my wife and I arrived to vote at Pine Hills

School, around 2:00 PM, the scanner was

jammed or broken. We had to put our ballots

into the "emergency slot" so we don't actually

know if they were counted, or if someone could

have looked at how we voted before processing

them.

My ballot registered that my vote was counted

when it went through;however, the voting

machine jammed. The poll worker told me that

the ballot was counted but it didn't drop in the

basket. Now after hearing all these stories and

reading the different incidents in the newspaper

I can't help but wonder if they knew I voted NO

and the machine was set to discard my ballot

even though it said it was counted?

I wouldn't be suspicious but it seems there are

too many stories and incidents to just believe

what I was told. We need a revote for fairness.

I went to vote on Tuesday and waited in line for

30 minutes just to sign in. Then I had to stand

in another for 20-30 minutes to put my ballot in.

They only had one machine and there were

many people who left because of the lines.

My place to vote is at the Hibernian Club and it

was not open,there fore I was unable to cast

my ballot!

My polling location ran out of regular ballots. I

had to vote using a paper ballot. There was no

accountability regarding these paper ballots for

the voters picked them up from a stack and

were not handed to them by the election

inspectors. I picked up several trying to select

just one. My honesty made me put the others

back on the stack and hopefully others did as

well but there were no safeguards in place to

prevent someone from voting more than once.

I know the election inspectors were

overwhelmed with the volume of traciffic and I

fear things got lax near the end of the night.

While I did not have a problem casting my

ballot I have no confidence in the voting

process due to the reported irregularities and

the mishandling of the process by the School

Board.

The previous time the referendum was on the

ballot I voted at Atria Shaker on Henry Johnson

Blvd near Albany Shaker Road. On February 9

I arrived at Atria Shaker and was told the

location was changed to the school next to the

YMCA on North Pearl Street. I was never

notified of the change in location. I believe I

should have been notified of the change in

location by mail.

My wife and I went to our normal polling place

(new Scotland elementary) at approx 3:40pm.

Right away we were surprised that as students

were leaving school and parents were picking

up their children, we went into school and there

was no security AT ALL. Really anyone could

have entered school with no regared for student

safety! Upon reaching the room we normally

vote in - we were surprised to see a line that

overflowed out into the hallway. After standing

in a NON MOVING LINE for 15 minutes, I

finally poked my head in the room and inquired

why there was no movement. I did notice and

was surprised to see ONE VOTING MACHINE!

Also we were not informed of any problems by

the two election officials - turns out there was a

paper jam in the ONE VOTING MACHINE and

the two election officials had no idea how to

rectify the problem. We spoke up and

suggested a paper ballot and that suggestion

was accepted, however another 10 minutes

had passes and we observed 8 people turning

around and leaving, all stating the same

frustrating statement , that they didn't have time

to wait for this. When we finally got to the table,

we were both given a sheet of paper and pen

and were told to make our selection and put

paper in emergency slot. Which we did. Out in

the open, both myself and my wife felt their was

no anonymity or confidence that our vote was

counted correctly. The incompetence was

blatently obvious as was the timing of vote (mid

winter). We were sure if this passed (by the

I voted at Eagle Point elementary school. My

first observation was that there was no signage

directing you as to where to enter the building.

The door we normal enter when voting was

locked. To my dismay, I saw elderly people

walking with canes or with difficulty walking

around the building looking for the correct

entrance. There was no flag and no signs on

the Russell Road and Western Avenue

entrances. I entered and picked up my ballot. I

marked it and proceeded to what I thought was

a regular voting machine. I inserted my ballot,

and the machine said my ballot was already

marked. I panicked, thinking I just might have

voided my vote. What really happened was that

I was in a handicapped booth, not a voting

booth. This was a shock to me for two reasons:

the booth was not marked handicapped and it

was in the far corner of the room, mashed up

against a table and bookshelf, which rendered it

completely not accessible to the handicapped.

When I asked for help, all I got was "you have

to go over there." Well, I wanted to know before

I went over there that my vote would not be

voided or counted twice. The staff was not

helpful at all. I did go to the proper voting booth

and inserted my ballot. All worked out, but I was

angry that there were no signs directing voters.

Also, I returned with my daughter later so that

she could vote. There was a non-handicapped

person in the same booth that I initially used

trying to vote. Obviously, the problem was

never addressed, despite my being told that the

I went to Mater Christe to vote and was told that

I had to go to school of humanities.I have

always gone to mater Christi to vote. to me this

was a big inconvenience. I almost didn't go,but

my NO vote was to important

They ran out of ballots at Mater Christi school,

and I waited in a long line for over 20 minutes

before they arrived. Additionally they only had

two people inside running the election

process..while over 40+ plus people waited in

line. A third Albany election board person did

show up after 5 pm..but they were not prepared

at all. Very disappointed in the lack of

responsibility, that the city of Albany exhibits

during times like this !!

Mater Christi School:

I arrived at 5:00pm to vote. The hallway and

polling room was filled to capacity with no

movement in the line. There were NO

BALLOTS. Just confused residents wondering

when their rights would be granted.

I witnessed several people leave out of

frustration. I too left after a 20 minute wait. I

returned at 7:30pm to find the same, confusing,

scene. There were no staffers to help direct

voters as to where to go or what to do. The

people in line were the only ones helping with

direction. The scene was utter chaos, and given

the narrow divide in the final tally, a re-vote is in

order.

Irregularities with voting. Unsecured ballots.

Paper ballots placed in envelopes on desk. I

voted @ 8:30. The workers were totally

exhausted and bamboozled

I and two friends showed up to the polling place

and the door was locked. We pounded on the

door for several minutes, but only got inside

when an employee came to work with a pass

and let us in. We reported this, and they said

they would put someone at the door; by the

time we left, there was still no one at the door.

At that point, an employee came, said they

were understaffed, and that no one would be

placed at the door. As we were leaving we saw

several people walk away because they

couldn't get in the building. The employee told

us to report it if we wanted to because he

couldn't do anything, so we called the Board of

Election, who then referred us to the Board of

Education, and they also said they knew

nothing about it.

I phoned the district the day before and got info

on polling places for 3 addresses. I was given

the wrong info for my brother at 113 Ramsey. I

was told school 19 for him. Imagine my

surprise when at 6pm while waiting on line I

think I see my brother. Yes it's him. He had

gone to school 19 and was sent to ASH. He

had been waiting at ASH for awhile. When I

arrived at ASH I was astounded by the length of

the line. But I waited. Then pretty much

everyone left because there were no more

ballots. I was shocked. My brother was going to

dinner out when he left and wasn't coming

back. I chided him and told him to come on his

way back. He did around 8 pm and was able to

vote. I waited and finally left a few minutes

before 7pm. I had worked a full day and it was

snowing out. They had said they had called for

more ballots but couldn't say how long it would

be. They said they had called an hour before.

Well that's when I made my exit. Reluctantly.

I've lived in Albany my whole life. This was

atrocious. I was denied my right to vote.

Through no fault of my own. And the fact that

they say there won't be a revote is even more

atrocious! How can this be? It was a

COMPLETE DEBACLE. I called the school

district at 8:25 am on Wednesday. Told them

what happened. Left my name, address, and

phone #. No one had the decency to call me. I

wonder if the vote turned out to be a "No",

would they then do a revote??? Please count

me in this lawsuit Mr. Conners. And thank you

My wife and I usually vote at ASH, so we went

after work. There were 2 long lines and neither

was moving. Eventually I got out of line and

went to the person at the desk where they were

processing registration of voters. The

gentleman there told me they were out of

ballots and that he had already called for more

ballots to be brought over. My wife and I had

other responsibilities and eventually had to

leave.... without being able to vote. After

taking care of our commitments, we returned to

ASH (about 8:30) and discovered that our

names were not on their list. They told us that

we were supposed to vote at Delaware

Community School, so we went there. We

eventually found where we were supposed to

go - in an obscure side room. The next day at

work, one of my co-workers told me that the

places that had ran out of ballots were the

locations where they expected greater numbers

of "No" voters. I'm now convinced that the

vote was rigged, and that the official statement

is that "mistakes were made". It is just

disgusting.

My wife and I usually vote at ASH, so we went

after work. There were 2 long lines and neither

was moving. Eventually I got out of line and

went to the person at the desk where they were

processing registration of voters. The

gentleman there told me they were out of

ballots and that he had already called for more

ballots to be brought over. My wife and I had

other responsibilities and eventually had to

leave.... without being able to vote. After

taking care of our commitments, we returned to

ASH (about 8:30) and discovered that our

names were not on their list. They told us that

we were supposed to vote at Delaware

Community School, so we went there. We

eventually found where we were supposed to

go - in an obscure side room. The next day at

work, one of my co-workers told me that the

places that had ran out of ballots were the

locations where they expected greater numbers

of "No" voters. I'm now convinced that the

vote was rigged, and that the official statement

is that "mistakes were made". It is just

disgusting.

Hi, Traffic was all backed up on Marwill St

trying to get the School of Humanities on

Whitehall Road, so I never it made it there.

I arrived at my polling place at 6:30 pm

Tuesday and found the line of people waiting to

vote standing outside in the cold & snowy

conditions. The lobby was full. Found out there

were no ballots and election people did not

know when they would be available. Instead of

waiting outside opted to leave. I returned at

8:30pm and was able to vote. It was very

inconvenient & voting personnel stated they

had called 3 times to get ballots and did not

know if or when they would arrive. I did my part

but the board should know that my time is

valuable also.

I first went to Mater Christi to cast my vote for

the updates to Albany High School at about

4:45PM. Parking was difficult. I went into the

appropriate door but the hall way was so full I

knew there was no way I could wait as I had a

meeting that same night that I couldn't miss. As

the polls closed at 9 I returned to Mater Christ

about 8. I was able to shortly after arriving enter

the room and lined up at the appropriate table.

After signing my name I noticed that a number

was written next to my name that was taken off

the ballot. This indicated to me that my vote

was being tracked which is a violation of my

voting rights. Given my ballot I then stood in

one of two lines that wound all the way around

the room. It was a good thing the fire marshal

didn't stop by as I'm sure the room was way

past legal occupancy. There was only two

voting machines and they did not always take

the ballot on the first try. Eventually my vote

was cast that night.

Witnessed non city resident vote. Former

resident had moved out of city months prior and

also recently sold home in Albany.

Witnessed older woman being told she and her

husband needed to vote at Delaware

Community.. Not New Scotland. Woman said

she'd called District. They told her Delaware.

They had gone to Delaware. Delaware sent

them to New Scotland.

There was some man walking around in and

out of New Scotland polling room announcing

he was counting votes. He appeared to be

looking at ballots. This was intimidating and

uncomfortable.

There were many people that left due to the

long line and wait time.

I was in line for almost an hour.

There was insufficient staff for the voting

process.

All of this was very concerning. Definitely not

good.

I was not even listed in the registery book. it

took 45 min.for the poll watcher to find out what

to do.

I took my mother, 92, to vote @ 5:00. There

were no parking places within two blocks, the

lot was filled, the line outside was long.

Consequently she could note vote.

My wife and I entered the polling place at 7 PM

and immediately realized something was

wrong. There were long lines and no signs or

instructions on which of the 3 lines were

provided. We were told that they were out of

ballots and the scanner wass broken.About 20

minutes later more ballots were delivered but

still did not work in the scanner. We were then

instructed to vote manually and place ballots in

the emergency slot on the machine. We

witnessed several dozen people leaving without

voting and in frustration during our 45 minute

debacle. The staff was very courteous but

obviously had received little or no training.At

one point I asked my wife if we were in a third

world country. Totally unacceptable and

frustrating.

My wife and I entered the polling place at 7 PM

and immediately realized something was

wrong. There were long lines and no signs or

instructions on which of the 3 lines were

provided. We were told that they were out of

ballots and the scanner wass broken.About 20

minutes later more ballots were delivered but

still did not work in the scanner. We were then

instructed to vote manually and place ballots in

the emergency slot on the machine. We

witnessed several dozen people leaving without

voting and in frustration during our 45 minute

debacle. The staff was very courteous but

obviously had received little or no training.At

one point I asked my wife if we were in a third

world country. Totally unacceptable and

frustrating.

After leaving work I had to stand in line for an

hour . There were people standing in line out

the door and all seem to be annoyed which

made the wait unpleasant. The wait was

apparently caused by the fact that shortly

before I arrived the people in charge were

waiting for more ballots to arrive after running

out. My co-worker had been there for an hour

and said that is what happened to cause him to

wait. As people arrived there was so much

confusion as to where to stand in line so they all

were merged together. Finally someone started

to tell everyone which table was for which

letters of the alphabet the last name started

with. While waiting in line I never saw one

person asked for their ID. There was only one

machine up and running to use once we got our

ballots, which meant another wait in a long line

before actually casting the ballots. It's my

opinion that the whole process was very poorly

organized. I did see a few people give up and

leave because they just couldn't wait any

longer. Everyone around me seemed to be very

disillusioned and unhappy with what was

happening. I feel that the whole process was

conducted very badly and should be redone.

Had to go to three voting stations to find the

right place. No help was provided by anyone.

Voters had to figure out amongst themselves

where to go. Past voting stations were used as

a guide as to where to go next. That last voting

stop was a complete mystery as to why it had

been set up.

Once at Mater Christi, the chaos reigning was

overwhelming. There were lines snaking

through other lines. No one was helpful in

providing any sort of information. I have

witnessed people leave prior to voting. This

was probably due to the lines extending to

outside of the building.

Arrived at polling place at 6PM (after working all

day), they were out of machine readable

(normal) ballots. The poll workers were

showing us the emergency paper ballots (they

had LOTS of those, cranking them off at the

copying machines, no serial #s, no way to track

them) and the affidavit envelopes they wanted

us to put them in. They wanted the affidavit

information filled out (print your name, sign and

date, although they weren't going to provide a

notary public). I objected to putting my name

on the envelope for the same reasons Chris

Higgins apparently did over at Hackett. I don't

want District employees opening an envelope

with my name on it and announcing what my

"secret" vote actually was. Eventually got

Catherine Cutting on the phone, She said "use

a plain white envelope, no markings on the

outside". I gave the phone to poll worker, she

explained that to him, and they changed their

process to plain white envelopes. They

processed a lot of ballots that way after

processing quite a few with the affidavit

envelopes. I still refused, as the ballots in their

plain white envelopes went into a manila

envelope on the polling table (along with the

affidavit envelopes, I wonder who read their

names and opened those ballots...), with no

real security. Where was the locked ballot

box? Where were these ballots going to be

counted? When they left the polling place,

were they sealed in a container with a

numbered seal and the number of ballots and

At 6:10p there were no ballots. People were

being given a mimeographed, undated 8 x11"

paper with verbiage that was a "copy" of the

ballot, an envelope where the voter should sign

their name and a line for the notary publics'

signature. Voters were upset and questioned

the legality of the process. Voters were told to

call Catherine Cutting to verify "this" is the way

we'd vote. I refused! We were told there weren't

enough ballots delivered because the district

DIDN'T THINK there'd be enough people

voting. Voters accepting that explanation had

their ballots placed in an envelope and again in

a larger envelope, unsecured. Some voters

could not wait for official ballots to arrive, they

left to attend children at home, dinner to be

made, or were just tired. At 8pm I returned to

vote on an official ballot. A poll worker was at a

table in the back shuffling papers. Was this guy

going through the ballots? The 11p news had

the district claiming victory. If polls closed at 9p

how could all the voting districts deliver paper

ballots to one site and then have a legal count?

I'm sickened by what I've experienced in my

community. I feel the public has been robbed of

a civil right. This is reminiscent of third world

and dictatorial regimes that pretend to conduct

honest and fair elections. I feel this was an

intentional plan to discourage voting and to get

the voting results the board wanted. I cannot

believe this magnitude of incompetence exists

in our school district. If so, they need to be

replaced for the good of our school and city.

I voted at eagle point elementary school library.

The one scanning machine was out of order. I

had to stuff my ballot in a slot on the machine.

There were so many ballots already in there I

could barely fit mine in. This was at 5 pm.

There were so many ballots that needed to be

counted , there was no way to get an accurate

number so early in the evening. It would have

taken hours for each and every vote to count. I

seriously doubt the authenticity of the outcome.

There should be a third vote. One in which

machines all work properly, polls are open on

time and close on time, and there are enough

ballots for everyone. If the school board is so

confident that this is what the taxpayers want,

they should have no problem with a third vote to

remove all doubt. One where the process is

carried out thoroughly and properly. That way

everyone will know for sure what the taxpayers

really want. There have been too many

mistakes with the vote on February 9th!!!!!

I voted at eagle point elementary school library.

The one scanning machine was out of order. I

had to stuff my ballot in a slot on the machine.

There were so many ballots already in there I

could barely fit mine in. This was at 5 pm.

There were so many ballots that needed to be

counted , there was no way to get an accurate

number so early in the evening. It would have

taken hours for each and every vote to count. I

seriously doubt the authenticity of the outcome.

There should be a third vote. One in which

machines all work properly, polls are open on

time and close on time, and there are enough

ballots for everyone. If the school board is so

confident that this is what the taxpayers want,

they should have no problem with a third vote to

remove all doubt. One where the process is

carried out thoroughly and properly. That way

everyone will know for sure what the taxpayers

really want. There have been too many

mistakes with the vote on February 9th!!!!!

When I got to my polling place there were no

ballots. That is unforgiveable in 2016 in the

capital city of New York State. I left and when I

returned later I was able to vote, but I know

quite a few people who were not able to return.

Also some ballots were being scanned while

other people were writing their votes on paper

and placing them in envelopes. Has the city

gone back to the 1900s?

Regarding the Tuesday (2/9/16) school vote our

experience was as follows: The problems

began immediately as my husband and I did

not know in which site our ward voted. Our first

attempt at voting was when we went to Mater

Christie Parish Hall (off New Scotland

Ave./Hackett Blvd.). Upon arrival at the site, we

were greeted outside by a young couple who

displayed a good deal of frustration. They

indicated that no voting was taking place at that

time as the polling site ran out of ballots.This

was probably shortly before 5PM. Since we

were already there, we opted to go in anyway to

see for ourselves. At that time the printer

showed up with more ballots.We went inside

and immediately saw a very long line of people

out into the hall. However, since the ballots

were now there and we waited in line. The wait

was about 45 minutes long before we got to the

table to sign in. At that time we were told that

we were at the wrong location and needed to

go to the School for Humanities at Delaware

Ave. The problems continue.....although very

frustrated we drove to the School for

Humanities. Upon arriving at this 2nd location

we discover, once again, a very long line. This

line was moving at a snail's pace, at best. We

waited for 20 minutes and only progressed 2

steps. My husband went to the table and

inquired why this was taking such a long time

and was told they were following the law and to

take it up with the Board of Elections. At this

polling place they were only giving out 1 ballot

There was only one voting machine, causing

the voter line to circle the room and criscross

the line of those in line to get their ballot. The

voting line also passed very close by several

voting tables, making it difficult to have privacy

to mark the ballot. I marked my ballot with my

back to the wall to conceal my marking of the

ballot. One voter moved one voting table about

two feet near the area where the voter line

crossed the line to get ballots. While in the

long line to the ballot machine I clearly saw the

printed side of ballots including how the voter

cast his/her vote. It was a poorly organized and

poorly run event, the worst tha I have seen in

my first voting experience in 1973. Two

couples left while I was in the Lilongwe line in

the hall waiting to get into the single voting

room.

There was someone filming inside the voting

room while I was waiting to get my ballot, with a

camera like the news media use, however I did

see if it was in fact a news outlet that was

filming.

Regarding the Tuesday (2/9/16) school vote our

experience was as follows: The problems

began immediately as my husband and I did

not know in which site our ward voted. Our first

attempt at voting was when we went to Mater

Christie Parish Hall (off New Scotland

Ave./Hackett Blvd.). Upon arrival at this site, we

were greeted outside by a young couple who

displayed a good deal of frustration. They

indicated that no voting was taking place at that

time as the polling site ran out of ballots.This

was probably shortly before 5PM. Since we

were already there, we opted to go in anyway to

see for ourselves. At that time the printer

showed up with more ballots.We went inside

and immediately saw a very long line of people

out into the hall. However, since the ballots

were now there we waited in line in an effort to

cast our ballots. The wait was about 45 minutes

long before we got to the table to sign in. At that

time we were told that we were at the wrong

location and needed to go to the School for

Humanities at Delaware Ave. The problems

continue.....although very frustrated we drove to

the School for Humanities. Upon arriving at this

2nd location we discover, once again, a very

long line. This line was moving at a snail's

pace, at best. We waited for 20 minutes and

only progressed 2 steps. My husband went to

the table and inquired why this was taking such

a long time and was told they were following the

law and to take it up with the Board of

Elections. At this polling place it appeared they

I was able to vote. However, it wasn't easy.

First, my polling place was different than my

normal election polling place. The normal spot

is the school on western ave, an easy walk

from my house. But this time, I had to vote ta

Mata Cristi school, much further from my

house. Not sure why.

When I arrived at Mata Cristi, the entrance to

Hurst Ave was partially blocked by a truck with

a "vote yes" sign, and its gang of supporters.

The problems, which are well known, really

began once I went in.