NYC Board of Elections Disputes De Blasio's Claim it Lacks Vision

The New York City Board of Elections is respectfully pushing back on Mayor Bill de Blasio’s characterization of it as an agency that lacks a “coherent vision” for how to improve the voting experience.

In his State of the City address last week, de Blasio proposed a 10-point democracy agenda which he said would address some of the Board’s failings.

Executive Director Michael Ryan responded carefully to the mayor's DemocracyNYC plan, telling WNYC that he would not comment on a proposed charter revision commission until it’s been empaneled. He also stressed that the Board, which derives its power from the state Constitution and state Election Law, routinely makes its “vision” known to state lawmakers.

“I believe the Board has presented a clear vision of legislative proposals to the New York State Legislature in the proper channels,” Ryan said.

He is expected to present the Board’s upcoming legislative proposals to state lawmakers next month.

De Blasio also took aim at the Board for relying on antiquated tools like snail mail to communicate with voters about poll site changes. But Ryan argued the agency is handling voter outreach "very well."

He said the Board is required to send annual mailers by law. He also said voters can go on line to their website to find out where to vote from their mobile devices.

Ahead of 2017 election, WNYC reported that the location of roughly one out of every five poll sites had been changed since November 2016, affecting more than 300,000 registered voters, and that the Board refused to comply with a local law requiring it to post signs at poll sites that were no longer in use.

The board said they are governed by state law.