Oct 30, 2008 7:33 am US/Eastern
Record Voter Turnout Cause For Concern In NYC?
More Than 4 Million Voters Expected To Head To The Polls
Mayor Bloomberg Says Board Of Elections A 'Disservice' To New Yorkers
NEW YORK (CBS) ―
Record voter turnout is expected just about everywhere next Tuesday and there are concerns New York City polling places may not be prepared.
There are now more than four million voters on the city's rolls, an increase of more than a 125,000 from the last presidential election. So is the Board of Elections prepared for a heavy voter turnout on November 4?
Long lines in Florida for early voting forced the state's governor to extend voting hours. The lines seen in early voting across the country has prompted the question whether the New York City's Board of Elections is prepared for the chaos that dogged the last presidential election? Sponsored by the city, many top officials are questioning whether they are.
The nightmare of 2004's General Election still looms fresh in voters' minds. Voters waited in line for hours and complained of poll workers who were inadequately trained.
Mayor Michael Bloomberg says he's irritated with the agency, which he has said in the past has party bosses calling the shots.
"This is a joke...this public is badly served by this agency as any city or state thing I've seen," said Bloomberg.
The board says it has hired and trained more than 34,000 workers, but the agency has complained about being underfinanced.
"We have a check waiting for the Board of Elections for 20 million dollars...it's been sitting there for awhile...all they have to do is pick it up but they're not going to get it until they tell us what they want to do with it," said Bloomberg.
There have already been problems with long lines in the absentee ballot process, said a top government official. While the board is financed by the city, it is independently operated and officials insist their budget has been cut dramatically.
The board went as far as to say that the Mayor's comments were "unfortunate."
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
Top Secret: Military Jets
Click to enlarge
Tenn. Police Rule McNair's Death A Homicide 19 mins ago 
Blanton Outpitches Santana, Phils Beat Mets 2-0 23 mins ago 
Stumble It!
Reporting
