New York Comptroller To Audit Board Of Elections After Voting Troubles Reported

The audit comes a day after the Board of Elections confirmed that more than 125,000 Brooklyn Democrats were removed from voter rolls.

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New York Comptroller Scott Stringer announced Tuesday that his office will audit the Board of Elections after voters reported trouble accessing polling sites.

The audit also comes a day after the Board of Elections confirmed that more than 125,000 Brooklyn Democrats were removed from voter rolls.

"There is nothing more sacred in our nation than the right to vote, yet election after election, reports come in of people who were inexplicably purged from the polls, told to vote at the wrong location or unable to get in to their polling site," Stringer said in a statement.

Stringer sent a letter to Michael Ryan, the executive director of the New York City Board of Elections, informing him of the audit.

In the letter, Stringer expressed his concern over widespread reports of poll site problems, including faulty ballot scanners and sites that did not open as early as they were supposed to.

According to Stringer, a voter reported arriving to her polling location at the Williamsburg Community Center shortly after 6 a.m. and was told the site was not operational.

"As I am sure you would agree, whether you are a Democrat or a Republican, all New Yorkers deserve an electoral system that is free, fair, and efficient – not one riddled with chaos and confusion," Stringer wrote to Ryan.

Mayor Bill de Blasio said in a statement that he supports the audit and urged that it be completed before the June elections.

"These errors today indicate that additional major reforms will be needed to the Board of Election and in the state law governing it," de Blasio said in a statement. "The perception that numbers voters may have been disenfranchised undermines the integrity of the entire electoral process and must be fixed."

With four elections in New York in 2015, Stringer said there is no "moment to spare."

"The people of New York City have lost confidence that the Board of Elections can effectively administer elections and we intend to find out why the BOE is so consistently disorganized, chaotic and inefficient," he said.

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