On Monday, the NYC Board of Elections introduced its new mobile app for locating city poll sites. Presently, the app is only available for Blackberry. An iPhone app will be available in time for the November General Election. Android andMS Windows Phone apps will be introduced shortly thereafter. As required by the federal Voting Rights Act, the app offers bilingual assistance in English, Spanish, Chinese, Korean and Bengali.
NYC BOE Poll Site App
UPDATE – The NYC BOE Poll Sites App is live in the Android Google Play App Store: click here.
Commissioner Maria Guastella, President of the Board, said the mobile app is part of an initiative to improve communication between the Board of Elections and NYC voters. “Now, we can provide up-to-date poll site information and alerts to voters, wherever they are,” Guastella said.
The Board says that the poll sites app helps voters to find their poll site for upcoming elections quickly and easily. Use the app to:
- Find a Poll Site Location
- View Sample Ballots
- Map Directions to a Poll Site
- Receive Updates and Alerts from the Board of Elections
Yesterday, the BOE also unveiled its updated website and new unofficial Election Night Return Reporting process. On election night, poll workers will close out the poll site scanners, remove and transfer memory devices to the NYPD, who will transport the secured devices to one of 73 precincts. There a bipartisan team of BOE clerks will upload the unofficial results to AP News. This new procedure is intended to reduce the human errors that marred the unofficial returns report Upper Manhattan on primary night in June. Interestingly, it took the BOE less than seven weeks to put this new process in place.
Finally, the BOE’s MIS unit collaborated closely with the city Department of Information Technology and Telecommunications and its community partner, Citizens Union, to update its web site and in developing the mobile app.
Please check the Board of Elections updated website for additional information at Vote.NYC or call the BOE’s Phone Bank at 866-VOTE-NYC.
Let me know if you like the BOE’s new mobile app. If you do, please return and leave a comment below.
See also: On Heels of Criticism And Ahead of Primary, BOE Tests New Election Night Closing Process
I just downloaded it. It looks great and it works fine. The mapping and walking directions are readable on my screen. The BOE phone link went directly to my dialer. The sample ballot downloaded easily and quickly. And the email functioned well.