Poll workers gone wild

Every election it seems, the partisan hacks of the city Board of Elections find a novel way to screw up. Despite the light turnout yesterday and not having the rank-choice wrinkle that so flustered them last June, they had a new way to do it wrong by asking voters to provide their address and date of birth, which isn’t right.

We got this first-hand from one voter, who we will classify as extremely knowledgeable. No, strike that. This is a voter who is one of the most knowledgeable persons in the state about New York election law and the workings and procedures of the Board of Elections. Actually, it was someone who served as a BOE commissioner for nearly a decade, Greg Soumas.

As the Manhattan Democratic commissioner, Soumas was the top guy for voting in the borough, but yesterday he was treated like any other unlucky voter who wanted to cast a ballot.

Here is what he said in an email to the board:

“Today I voted at PS 163 on W. 97th St. After arriving at the correct table and identifying myself, I was asked by a Board of Elections poll worker for my address and date of birth to confirm my identity. After telling the poll workers that I did not have to give them that information, I was told by the poll workers that I would not get my ballot and would be denied my constitutional right to vote if I couldn’t confirm my address and date of birth, and the poll workers told me they were taught this in training. My question is the following: how much did it cost the taxpayers to teach poll workers how to deny voters the constitutional right to vote?”

This wasn’t to confirm his identity. His matching signature would do that. This was training gone haywire. And if the expert of experts is given the runaround, think about us regular folks.

There is no good reason to give voters the third degree. Just give them the ballot.