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BOE Expands Hours for Early Voting, Follows Criticism Over Hours-Long Lines

Voters in Queens Village

Oct. 27, 2020 By Christian Murray

The New York City Board of Elections announced today that it will be expanding its hours for the final three days of early voting.

The board’s commissioners said at their meeting today that they would expand the hours on Friday, Oct. 30 through Sunday, Nov. 1.

The announcement follows a large voter turnout across the city since early polling sites opened on Saturday. The BOE has come under fire from Mayor Bill de Blasio and Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez for not doing a better job in managing the influx of early voters.

The BOE reported that through Oct. 26, there were nearly 315,000 early voters across its 88 polling sites. Brooklyn reported the largest number of early voters with 101,283 people casting ballots; followed by Manhattan with 69,805; and Queens with 65,728. The Bronx accounted for 46,575; and Staten Island 31,332.

The BOE’s Friday hours are now 7 a.m. to 5 p.m., representing two additional hours. The original schedule was from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Saturday’s hours will now run from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m.– an addition of four extra hours. The original schedule was from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Finally, the last day of early voting on Sunday will run from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. The hours were initially scheduled for 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

There are no changes to voting hours for Wednesday and Thursday.

There are 18 early voting sites in Queens. Residents are not permitted to vote at any of the sites but must go to a specific location based on where they are registered.

Voters can find their address-specific polling site by clicking here.

The polling hours for Election Day on Nov. 3 will be from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m.