Turnout low at historic vote

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Voting sites in the northwest Bronx often had more poll workers than voters on Tuesday, when nine candidates vied for New York’s 13th congressional district seat.

Several locations, including Marie Curie High School and P.S. 310, were completely devoid of voters at about 9:30 a.m.

William Ciaran-Smith remarked that few constituents preceded him into the voting booth at the Promenade Apartments on West 225th Street

“I was ballot 79, so that means not many people are voting in this district. So, it’s interesting,” he said around 5 p.m.

Low turnout was also the most salient feature of the race to Daoud Humphries. Results for the 13th district, which covers Upper Manhattan and a swath of the Bronx, came out after The Press went to print.

“There’s no one there. It took me, like, a minute to go inside, vote and come back out,” said Mr. Humphries, who has voted at the Promenade for 20 years. “So far, for my building, there’s been no problems coming here and voting.”

Mr. Ciaran-Smith also noted how easy it was to vote on Tuesday after his father’s name did not appear on voter rolls in the state’s April 19 presidential primary, despite voting at the same location for 15 years.

Nina Fixell also said she was not able to vote on April 19 and had to submit her ballot by affidavit, but that she had no problem in this week’s federal vote.

“This time my name was on the rolls and my signature and everything like that,” she said. “I felt more confident about it knowing my name was there.”

Notwithstanding the dearth of voter enthusiasm, it was a historical ballot. Rep. Charles Rangel is ending a 46-year career in Congress. However, the weeks leading up to the vote did see a leading candidate emerge out of the wide field —Yohanny Caceres, Suzan Johnson Cook, Adam Clayton Powell IV, state Sen. Adriano Espaillat, Assemblyman Guillermo Linares, Mike Gallagher, Sam Sloan, Clyde Williams and Assemblyman Keith Wright.

The contenders spent the day courting voters. Mr. Linares was seen outside of his Marble Hill apartment building trying to encourage people to go to the polls.

“I think that the people sympathize very much with me,” he said in Spanish on the corner of West 230th Street and Broadway. “I am confident that today, the voters will determine who gets to go to Washington.”

On the same street corner, one of several groups of Espaillat supporters was also trying to garner support.

“He knows what our needs are,” Rolando Cespedes said of his favored candidate. “That’s his focus, the thing the community needs.”

NY13, Voter Turnout, New York Federal Primary, Adriano Espaillat, Guillermo Linares, Anthony Capote

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