Letter to NUHS Principal, Dr. Howard Lucks

The following is a letter to Dr. Howard J. Lucks, principal of New Utrecht High School that was sent by mail:

October 21, 2005

Dr. Howard J. Lucks, Principal
New Utrecht High School
[address omitted]

Dear Dr. Lucks:

Last Election Day, Nov. 2, 2004, I was asked for photo ID by an auxiliary police officer. I refused and instead offered my voter registration card, which he accepted. The reasons why I refused to show photo ID are twofold: 1) the photo ID that I have contains my old address, which would have resulted in the officer directing me to the wrong voting machine. Although I have written my new address on the back of my card, officers look only at the front, not the back; 2) if I had submitted to the officer’s request for photo ID, this would have made this policy acceptable even though many voters, including seniors and minorities, lack photo ID, which could result in voters being turned away from the polls and possible legal action taken by disaffected voters, jeopardizing New Utrecht’s policy.

New Utrecht’s policy, I learned in an e-mail from the Board of Elections, is for “the safety of the School and it’s [sic] students,” even though one would be hard pressed to find any students on either Primary Day or Election Day. I ask that New Utrecht’s policy be modified to allow for voter registration cards to be used instead of photo ID on both Primary Day and Election Day. The polls open in two weeks. The City Council election between Vincent Gentile and Pat Russo, for example, could be close, and this could result in legal challenges. The time to act is now.

The best way to contact me is either by e-mail or by phone after 1 p.m. I hope to hear from you and have the matter resolved soon.

Sincerely,
Vincent La Marca

Courier-Life has a website!

Courier-Life publications has a website - www.courierlife.net. The publisher of the Bay News and the Brooklyn Graphic, among others, has joined a growing list of community publications in Brooklyn - the Brooklyn Daily Eagle, the Brooklyn Skyline and the Brooklyn Papers - on the Web.

Voter alert! You could be denied the right to vote Tuesday!

Dozens of voters in Bensonhurst could be denied the right to vote this Tuesday if they are asked for photo ID to enter the New Utrecht High School polling place and they don't have it. If you live in Bensonhurst and your polling place is New Utrecht, tell them to modify their policies to allow voter registration cards to be used instead of photo ID. The Democratic mayoral primary could be affected by this ridiculous policy. Also please try to contact the New York City Board of Elections about this matter.

Letter to the Editor: Asked for photo ID at New Utrecht High School

This letter to the editor was sent to four Brooklyn newspapers on August 25, 2005.

On the morning of Election Day, Nov. 2, 2004, I was asked by an auxillary police officer for photo ID in order to enter the polling place at New Utrecht High School. I felt this was a violation of privacy and inconsistent with Board of Election policy. I believe that IDs should be properly handled by poll workers. I'm sure hundreds of voters in Bensonhurst were asked for photo ID that day and that some of them were turned away from the polls.

It could happen again. Two important events, the mayoral primary on Sept. 13 and the general election on Nov. 8, are coming up soon. The photo ID policy, established by New Utrecht High School and tolerated by the Board of Elections, could have an effect on City Council races, the mayoral primary and election as well as the MTA bond question involving the Second Avenue subway and other capital projects involving billions of dollars.

Hundreds of voters, many of them seniors who lack photo ID, could be denied the right to vote if they cannot enter the polling place, for to be denied access to the polling place is to be denied the right to vote as there is no alternate way to vote on Election Day.

The photo ID policy, if allowed to stand, would appear inconsistent with both the Help America Vote Act and the Board of Elections' own policy. The Help America Vote Act requires that all first-time voters who registered by mail after January 1, 2003 be required to show their driver's license or their Social Security card in order to vote. The Board of Elections' implementation of HAVA is to allow those who registered before 2003 and all other voters not to show their ID; for first-time voters the policy is to be as least restrictive as possible. New Utrecht High School says that photo ID is required to maintain school safety. As the Board of Elections' Brooklyn office wrote in an e-mail, "It is the School's policy that all visitors to their facility, whether it is Election Day or not [sic] be required to show ID when entering the site...this is the School's policy. This policy has nothing to do with HAVA or the Board of Elections, but [with] the safety of the School and it's [sic] students."

I ask New Utrecht High School to do the seniors and other voters a favor and modify the photo ID policy on Primary Day and Election Day. The policy doesn't appear to be working; in the past several months, one student shot himself in the leg and another was stabbed. If the school wanted to enhance school safety while securing privacy, they would have installed metal detectors.

As for me, if I don't see any change by Sept. 13, I may have to sit out the primary.

Flickr

I just joined Flickr. My page is here.

It's been very hot these last couple of days.

Sorry it's been a while since my last blog entry.

Added the most recent issue of the FHNU Newsletter to www.historicnewutrecht.org (of which I recently have been the webmaster).

Recent movies I watched: Roger & Me, The Negotiator, Paparazzi, Trading Places, Farenheit 9/11.

Election Day revisited

I wrote about three months ago about being asked for ID at New Utrecht High School. I e-mailed the New York City Board of Elections. They e-mailed me back the very next day, promising an investigation. Today they e-mailed me the results of the investigation, hoping this will resolve the matter. In the e-mail they claimed the ID issue had nothing to do with the Help Americans Vote Act. Dissatisfied, I replied to them, offering several possible solutions. The e-mail exchanges are below. More to come when they give a further reply.

My e-mail to Virginia Busti, Nov. 2, 2004:

Hello,

My name is Vincent LaMarca and I have been a registered voter since 1988. I was asked for ID to enter the polling facility at New Utrecht High School by an auxilllary police officer at approximately 6:40 AM today. Is this legal? Is this required for all voters? Was this on orders from the NYPD or the 62nd Precinct? For as I understand HAVA, only first time voters who registered by mail since January 1, 2003 are asked for ID. Please explain the situation to me.

Thank you for reading this e-mail.

Sincerely,
Vincent LaMarca

Her reply on Nov. 3, 2004:

Mr. LaMarca:

You are absolutely correct...only first time voters (who registered after 1/1/03 and who did not provide ID at the time they registered) were required to show ID. Apparently some poll workers and police did not comprehend the written, verbal and filmed instructions and in their misdirected zeal asked all voters for ID. I've requested that the Brooklyn Board of Elections look into the matter at New Utrecht HS and question the poll workers there. They will be reinstructed and if necessary disciplined.

I apologize again for the inconvenience caused you by this incident and hope that all your future voting experiences will be pleasant ones.

Virginia Busti

A reply from Salvatore Barrera of the Brooklyn Board of Elections, Feb. 17, 2005:

Dear Mr.. LaMarca,

I am in receipt of an e-mail message from you that was forwarded to my
office by Virginia Busti. In your message you state that you were asked for
ID by an auxiliary police officer when entering the site of New Utrecht HS
to vote for the November 2, 2004 General Election.

After several inquires into the matter we have discovered that New Utrecht
HS had an officer at the site that day. It is the School's policy that all
visitors to their facility, whether it is Election Day or not be required to
show ID when entering the site. I spoke to Mrs.. Mayoni, the Assistant
Principal of School Safety at New Utrecht, and she confirmed that an officer
was at New Utrecht on Election Day and that this is the School's policy.

This policy has nothing to do with HAVA or the Board of Elections, but the
safety of the School and it's students.

If you have any further questions please feel free to contact me at [phone number omitted] or by e-mail.

Thank you for your inquiry. I hope that this resolves the matter.

Sincerely,

Sal P Barrera
Administrative Associate
Brooklyn EDO Department
[address omitted]


My reply of Feb. 17, 2005:

Dear Mr. Barrera,

Thank you for your reply to my e-mail. I appreciate it that complaints
are addressed in a swift fashion. Your interpretation of HAVA is
technically correct. However, your reply fails to resolve the matter.
The notion that a school can interfere with the rights of voters in
order to protect students who should be at home on Election Day seems
shocking to me, especially if citizens are denied the right to vote as
a result.

I propose to you a number of possible solutions to the matter:

1. Ask New Utrecht High School to close the building to students and teachers as their presence interferes with the rights of voters.
2. Also ask the school to relax its policy on ID on Election Day and leave the ID issue to the Board of Elections.
3. Should New Utrecht High School fail to make changes to its policies, then perhaps an alternate site should be considered for those voters who registered prior to January 1, 2003 and who do not wish to be asked for ID. The voting could be conducted by paper ballot and could take place at a number of locations, including other public schools, public libraries or catering halls. One possible location in Bensonhurst could be the historic New Utrecht Reformed Church Parish House.
4. If Board of Elections finds none of the above solutions palatable then they should encourage eligible voters (out-of-towners, those on vacation, the elderly and disabled) to cast an absentee ballot. The absentee ballot should be given the widest possible publicity (television, radio, newspapers and the Internet).

I hope the propsed solution will resolve the matter of being asked for ID. As Virginia Busti remarked in a previous e-mail, "only first time voters (who registered after 1/1/03 and who did not provide ID at the time they registered) were required to show ID."

Sincerely,
Vincent LaMarca

P.S.: The assistant principal's name is Geraldine Maione, not Mayoni.

Update since I've last wrote

Hello,

I've been away for three months since I've last wrote.

I will, at the Annual General Meeting, be elected a trustee at the Friends of Historic New Utrecht.

I've begun adding photos at the web site I edit, New Utrecht Reformed Church.

Please visit both sites. And help contribute funds to save the church!