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Voters Undeterred by 'Longest Line' Ever at Greenpoint Polling Station

By Gwynne Hogan | November 8, 2016 2:35pm
 Board of Election volunteer Lizzy Marmon (right) said she's lost track of time in the crazy turnout.
Board of Election volunteer Lizzy Marmon (right) said she's lost track of time in the crazy turnout.
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DNAinfo/Gwynne Hogan

GREENPOINT — Voters assigned to a Leonard Street polling station spent more than an hour apiece waiting for their turn inside Tuesday morning — in what longtime locals called an unprecedented turnout inspired by the battle between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump.

"Voter turnout is just absolutely incredible," said Lizzy Marmon, 25, a Board of Elections volunteer who helping to direct the line outside of John Ericsson Middle School 126 on the border of Greenpoint and Williamsburg.

"I've lost all track of time," she said, adding that folks began flooding the location, "from the moment we opened the doors."

She turned to a throng of voters she said were being extremely "patient."

"We are so happy you're here and voting," she said. "We apologize for the wait but we promise it's worth it."

Voters who cast ballots at the Leonard Street location in prior elections said they'd never seen anything like the line Tuesday morning.

"This is the longest line I've ever stood in ever," said filmmaker David Capurso, 47, who'd been voting at the same poling spot since 1999. He came early in the morning to vote, saw the line and left thinking he'd return later to find smaller crowds.

But by the time he came back at 11 a.m, the cue still snaked around the block.

"This is definitely historic," he said. "I mean who likes to wait in lines? But this is the great thing about this country. We can vote for a woman, we can vote for a man."

Jospeh Capolino, 76, another voter who'd been at the same poling station for decades said even during Election Day for Obama's presidential win eight years ago, he'd coasted right in.

"It was not half of this line," he said. "It's good. Turnout is very good. I don't mind this."

Others took to social media at the Leonard Street location and others in Greenpoint wondering where they also had extensive wait times, wondering if it had to do with an influx of new residents in the neighborhood.

Board of Election employees at the 424 Leonard Street poling site said that they only had five machines to scan the ballots. Inside the facility and one of the machines kept jamming and had to be replaced.

"We have five machines, we actually need seven and I'm doing the work of three people," said Willie Mae Randall, 52, whose job it was to oversee voters as they scanned ballots at all five scanners. "This is my first presidential election. I'm excited about it, but it did not know it was going to be like this."

"It started at 6 on the dot. And it hasn't ended yet," she said.

By 1 p.m. the line at Leonard Street at dwindled down, though workers anticipated another rush in the afternoon.

Voters all over the city faced long lines, late poll openings and other snags in this year's historic presidential election where voters could elect the country's first woman president.