Brooklynites Share Election-Day Thoughts

By Meaghan McGoldrick O’Neil, Kirstyn Brendlen, Jada Camille, Gabriele Holtermann & Lloyd Mitchell, Brooklyn Paper

Election Day kicked off on Tuesday as thousands of Brooklynites headed to poll booths to cast their votes in the high-stakes presidential race between Kamala Harris and Donald Trump, as well as in crucial down-ballot elections.

Following a record-breaking early voting period that saw 1 million ballots cast, the city’s Board of Elections expected long lines at polling locations.

As of 9 a.m. on November 5, the city’s Board of Elections recorded 264,738 Election Day check-ins citywide, with Brooklyn leading with 428,460. During the nine-day early voting period from October 26 to November 3, there were 1,089,328 check-ins citywide, including 345,840 in Brooklyn — the highest of any borough.

New York’s 28 electoral votes were in play, with Harris favored to win. And she did win New York, taking all 28 electoral votes, while Trump won nationally.

In addition to the presidential race, New Yorkers also decided on significant local contests for Senate, House of Representatives, state Senate, state Assembly, and state Supreme and Civil Court judges. Voters addressed six state and local ballot questions as well.

In southern Brooklyn, Republicans and Democrats battled it out in several state Assembly and Senate districts that flipped from blue to red in the 2022 midterms.

Embracing early voting
Despite high turnout, some of the borough’s biggest polling sites were running smoothly Tuesday morning.

Denise Feliz, a poll worker at the Brooklyn Museum, said this Election Day feels “different.” In 2020, she said, the site had a line around the block before opening. This time around, she feels like most Brooklynites took advantage of early voting to ensure their ballots were turned in on time.

A voter named Emma had a similar experience at her polling site, and said she thinks many New Yorkers took advantage of early voting.

“It was very smooth, the line wasn’t too long,” she said. “I imagine people were eager to vote and I think [early voting] is something that we got into the habit of doing during the Covid-19 pandemic so people like the option of not having to wait in lines.”

Emma, who has voted in every election she’s been eligible for, called this year’s vote “consequential” to the country’s future. Not only did she cast her ballot for Kamala Harris and Tim Walz, but she also spent recent weeks canvassing in Pennsylvania and doing some local phone banking.

“I don’t think she’s a perfect candidate, but I would very strongly prefer her to be in the White House,” she told Brooklyn Paper.

Cathy, who voted at the Brooklyn Public Library, said she prefers to vote on Election Day — it’s tradition. When she arrived on Tuesday, she was initially concerned by how smoothly everything was going, and how short the lines were.

“There was no wait. I actually was a little worried, I was like ‘are people not voting?’ But I think it’s because [the Board of Elections] actually has a better system in place,” she said. “I think people have experienced long lines in the past, especially people of my generation — I remember standing in line for hours. I think if people are traveling, or are going to be away, they’ve got busy lives, being able to do it on the weekend, I think it’s understandable.”

While Cathy didn’t share which candidates she voted for, she said she “just [wants] somebody that really cares about the country, cares about people.”

“I think there’s only one [presidential] candidate who has that feeling, who seems to have a lot of empathy for people,” she said. “I prefer to have somebody strong who I think will help the country move forward, who will help unite the country, because I worry about [the younger] generation. It probably feels so divided. I’ve never in all of my life dealt this division before, until about eight years ago. It’s unfortunate.”

Still, some sites saw excessive crowding. On X, Council Member Shahana Hanif tried to get in touch with the BOE. Constituents were reporting “excessively long” lines at P.S. 58 in Park Slope, she said, and many voters had left due to length wait times.

“Inside, the hallway is open, but the coordinator said the long line was intentional,” Hanif wrote. “Can this be addressed?”

Voters balance anxiety and hope
In Park Slope, M.S. 51 saw a steady stream of voters on Tuesday morning. Some, a poll worker said, were emotional, tearing up as they cast their votes.

Locals Danielle Stouck and Zach Press voted at M.S. 51 on Tuesday morning with their young daughter Esther in tow. Stouck told Brooklyn Paper her anxiety level was “extremely high,” and she had taken the day off from work because she couldn’t focus.

“This is a hugely consequential election, and I wanted my daughter to vote for, hopefully, our next female president,” she said. “My hope is that we get to elect a woman — a Black, Asian woman — who can be a role model for my baby and who can make this world a little bit better.”

State Senator Andrew Gounardes, a Democrat who faced a challenge from Republican Vito LaBella in Tuesday’s election, was calm as he handed out campaign literature outside M.S. 51. He said he was feeling “cautiously optimistic” about the presidential race, especially in a neighborhood like overwhelmingly Democratic Park Slope.

“Neighborhoods like this are gonna come out and really do the right thing and help us elect Kamala Harris as president,” Gounardes said. “And all the way down the ballot here in New York, we got a bunch of important races, too.”

He admitted that, like many voters, he was a little anxious.

“I won’t not stop being anxious, but the feedback we’re getting from people so far, it seems really positive, and that’s just a good sign,” he said.

City Comptroller and 2025 mayoral candidate Brad Lander, standing with Gounardes outside M.S. 51, said he was feeling hopeful despite some election anxiety.

“We’re going to fight for this democracy, and it’s very close. It’s sometimes hard to understand how it could be this close, how so many people could find Trump’s mean, hateful politics appealing, but the answer to that is just get out and talk to your neighbors and go out and vote and talk to people, and that’s what we’re doing,” said Lander, who spent last weekend in Philadelphia to get out the vote.

Site changes
During early voting and on Election Day, some Brooklynites faced unexpected changes as they had to pivot to new polling sites.

High-profile venues, such as Barclays Center, which had served as polling locations in past elections, were notably absent from this year’s list.

In an email to Brooklyn Paper, a rep for the New York State Board of Elections explained that it routinely reassesses and reevaluates polling site locations, aiming to optimize voter access. This reevaluation can lead to shifts that, while aiming to streamline the process, sometimes result in confusion for voters who have grown accustomed to specific venues in their neighborhoods.

“Poll sites are required to be reevaluated based on a number of factors – population changes, district maps changing, building availability, ADA accessibility, etc.,” said Director of Public Information Kathleen R. McGrath.

Other voters — like one woman a Brooklyn Paper reporter watched get turned away from her longtime polling place in Dyker Heights Tuesday morning — likely were relocated due to redistricting.

After the 2020 U.S. Census, New York adopted new legislative maps for the 2022 elections, but subsequent legal challenges required additional redistricting for 2024. This likely caused some voters, McGrath said, to be placed in new election districts, resulting in changes to their polling sites.

When asked whether voters were informed of these changes prior to the election, McGrath said that local county and city representatives should have mailed notifications to all voters affected by redistricting. She also encouraged voters to verify their polling locations in advance by visiting the Board of Elections website.

The issues
For first-time voter Kristopher, issues like education, housing, and jobs were at the forefront of this election. He said he was voting for the people “who actually want to do the work.”

“The people who are willing to do what’s right and put [the country] on the right path and lead,” he said.

For Lisa McClain-Freeney and Dionne McClain-Freeney, a same-sex couple who cast their ballots at P.S. 321 on 7th Avenue in Park Slope, the 2024 presidential election was “monumental” for safeguarding women’s and LGBTQ+ rights and protecting democracy.

“It’s very exciting as well,” Lisa said. “Because we know that there are scores of young people who, for the first time, are having their voices count in voting. So we are optimistic and excited, a little frightened, but mostly optimistic and excited.”

Dionne told Brooklyn Paper that her father was the son of a sharecropper in Alabama, who couldn’t vote until the Voting Rights Act was passed in 1965, and that her mother, an immigrant, took voting “very seriously.”

“It’s really significant to be able to do what [my father] eventually was able to do,” said Dionne McClain-Freeney, pointing out that the right to vote shouldn’t be taken for granted.

“The protection of democracy as we know it — however you regard it, flawed, perfect, deeply flawed — the ability to have the right [to vote], to even have the right to say, ‘We don’t like what your policies are; you need to change them,’ that’s a very, very significant thing that we don’t take for granted. As a same-sex couple, it’s also really important that this is something we do as a family.”

For Brooklynite David Massey, the choice was clear.

“I am voting for Trump because I made more money under him,” he said. “That’s what this election comes down to for me — who will load my pockets more.”

Still, others vowed to “keep Kamala and carry on,” as one sign read outside the Brooklyn Public Library.

“Without question, we hope that Kamala Harris wins and that we save women’s rights,” Kate Sills said outside of P.S. 321. “I think that women are going to save this country, and I hope they all come out and vote today.”

Editor’s note: A version of this story originally ran in Brooklyn Paper. Click here to see the original story.

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