“I feel decently awful about it,” Knight, a 19-year-old NYU student, said. “I have a little bit of comfort knowing that the residential part of the tower he doesn’t own anymore. It is definitely icky. Something that made me wonder if coming back to New York was worth it at all.”

River Knight  is voting for Biden. Photo courtesy of River Knight.

Knight, who lives in an apartment owned by his grandmother, casted his vote for Joe Biden which he mailed to Salt Lake City, Utah, his hometown. 

“I read somewhere that if you sent it after October 20 who knew whether or not it was gonna make it,” said Knight. “I just got confirmation this past Friday that it was counted.”

Utah is historically a red voting state, but Utah Senator Mitt Romney has recently confirmed that he himself had not voted for Trump.

“I think there’s a chance that Utah could go not fully blue but purple or pink,” Knight said. There is a semblance of a chance that Trump will not get the majority of our electors and that’s because Romney didn’t vote for Trump and the Mormons like Romney,” said Knight. 

Knight hailed from a suburb just outside of Salt Lake City Utah, approximately 9400 blocks south from the Mormon Temple. All of Salt Lake’s streets are labelled by their distance from the temple. Whether or not Utah votes semi-blue, Knight believes Biden will win the election.

“I think Joe Biden will win. God, knock on wood though,” said Knight. “Trump is an evil, lying, disgusting human being. Biden has run his political campaign on the side of decency, and will be on the right side of history in a way Trump could never be.”

This is the first election Knight will be voting in along with many others, with predictions of the highest youth voter turnout since 1984, according to the Harvard Gazette. He is a registered independent and so did not vote in the primary elections this year. 

“I’m voting for Biden cause I don’t think he’s evil. I think he’s rational and would be more of a ‘man of the people,’” said Knight. “And everyone my age I know is voting. Not all of them are voting for Biden, but a good amount are.” 

Knight plans to watch the election inside of his apartment in the Trump International. He said he believes civil unrest will come in the weeks after the election, not the night of. Some news sources predict that because of mail-in voting, the election will not be over on election day, and that the results may take several days.

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In an emergency virtual town hall meeting called by the New York City Public Advocate on yesterday, a panel of speakers acknowledged the recent glitches and addressed questions and worries while still putting forth the important message to vote. 

“It’s really frustrating and unfortunate that there have been some problems with absentee ballots in Brooklyn,” said Susan Lerner, the executive director of Common Cause New York. “The good news is it’s just barely the beginning of October. There is time to fix mistakes.”

Absentee ballots just went out in the mail last week and the problems quickly began.

“I received a ballot package that was addressed to me, but the official ballot envelope that the absentee ballot has to go into before being placed in the return envelope had the name, address, and voter ID of a different person,” Jamal Harley, a Brooklyn resident, said

Harley was told he was going to receive a corrected ballot within the next week or so.

“The employee I spoke with said they made that decision yesterday, so it seemed they were getting through the calls quickly,” said Harley. 

In addition to issues with incorrect personal information, some voters expressed confusion after receiving ballots labeled “military” and no return postage. 

“All absentee ballots say ‘absentee military ballot,’ said Lerner. “In previous years, they’ve said absentee slash military ballot, which means absentee or military ballot. There’s a typo. They left off the slash. It’s the same ballot. There’s no difference between a military ballot and an absentee ballot.” 

Lerner reminded that those affected by financial hardships have the option to hand-deliver their ballot to the Board of Elections, any early voting location in the city, or any election day polling place. 

Zoom hall meeting hosted by the
New York City Public Advocate including panelists who addressed concerns about the recent errors on absentee ballots. Screenshot by Inga Parkel

Amy Torres, the Director of Policy and Advocacy for the Chinese-American Planning Council made clear in order to relieve any hesitation, that once ballots are received they will be secured

“Once they get in, there are mechanisms in place to make sure that they’re secure, to make sure that you’re able to track your vote, and have real faith and confidence restored in our democratic system,” said Torres. 

Torres also recommended that voters have a fallback plan in case the original is foiled.

“Here in New York State where we have three different ways to cast your ballot this year, it’s really important to come up with those contingency plans,” said Torres. 

While mail-in ballots are seen as a safer and more convenient option than going to a physical polling place, each panelist still advocated for early in-person voting. 

“What we’re recommending, if you can, vote early. Please do so in the days that we have before,” said Jumaane Williams, the New York City Political Advocate. “We know that systems are going to be overwhelmed, and we want to prevent that, so if you can vote early that helps the system from being overwhelmed.”

Each panelist drove home the importance of voting. 

“Vote like your life depends on it,” said Stefani Zinerman the Civic Engagement Chair of the Brooklyn NAACP. “Because it does.”

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