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Ydanis Rodriguez Cruises to Victory in Uptown Council Primary

By  Carolina Pichardo and Patrick Hedlund | September 13, 2017 11:50am | Updated on September 13, 2017 1:18pm

 Ydanis Rodriguez.
Ydanis Rodriguez.
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DNAinfo/Jordan Davidson

UPPER MANHATTAN — Incumbent City Councilman Ydanis Rodriguez sailed to an easy victory in the Democratic primary Tuesday, receiving nearly twice the amount of votes as his closest competitor. 

Rodriguez, who is running for a third term in District 10, won 61.44 percent of the votes to beat out challengers Josue Perez and Francesca Castellanos, who claimed 30.96 percent and 7.10 percent of the votes, respectively.  

Primary day wasn't without controversy — some Inwood residents voting from school I.S. 52 at 650 Academy St. claimed Rodriguez and several members of his team were electioneering within 100 feet of a polling site. This is prohibited and should be reported to a police officer, according to the Board of Elections website.

Graham Ciraulo, part of Northern Manhattan Is Not 4 Sale, who was volunteering at the school on behalf of Josue Perez, initially said he reported a few incidents to the BOE, including non-interpreters and other poll workers assisting voters inside voting booths.

Ciraulo later told DNAinfo New York in an email Wednesday that he did not file a complaint since "an agreement was reached with Josue Perez's campaign that a poll worker would have to accompany the interpreter."

"There was one non-interpreter who was helping the voters behind the ballot box. She was asked to no longer do so," Ciraulo said. "Since the issue was resolved, I did not file the complaint."

Rodriguez didn't reply to a request for comment. 

The BOE on Tuesday could not immediately confirm whether it had received other complaints, saying that reviewing any complaints would take some time. The agency did respond to residents via Twitter, however, requesting the name of the polling site and location. 

Rodriguez was first elected to the council in 2009. His district covers Washington Heights and Inwood, as well as Marble Hill.