Bay Ridge polls were open just a few hours and already allegations of electioneering flew as constituents of the hotly contested race between Justin Brannan (D) and John Quaglione (R) filed into the Bay Ridge Shore Hill Houses at 9000 Shore Road to cast their vote for the district’s next city council member.
Two of the three candidates running in the District 43 race covering Bay Ridge, Dyker Heights, Bensonhurst and Bath Beach also came to cast their vote at Shore Houses. Quaglione arrived at the polling site around 10:45 a.m. today, his boss and sitting State Sen. Marty Golden (R) was already inside.
According to the city’s poll site locator, the senator’s actual polling site is located at Fort Hamilton High School, 8301 Shore Rd.
While inside, a voter that wants to remain anonymous for fear of retaliation, told a man who was standing next to the table of the polling site that the senator should not be there. The man lashed back at the woman.
“He can be here if he wants, it’s not a state election,” said Patrick Golden, brother of Sen. Golden and owner of the Bay Ridge Manor.
When the voter expressed that the senator’s presence was intimidating, Patrick Golden dismissed the woman’s comments and replied, “It’s none of your business.” After, several more words were exchanged between the voter and Patrick Golden, including him identifying himself as the senator’s brother, the women left the polling site.
Patrick Golden was also seen ushering in several containers of Original Gourmet cookies into the polling of which Quaglione distributed to poll workers. The practice, however criticized, falls within the guidelines of the New York City Board of Elections, according to DOE spokesperson Valerie Vazquez-Diaz.
The anonymous voter told KCP that she was uncomfortable with the senator being at the election site, and was upset about the way Patrick Golden spoke to her when she tried to alert, who she thought was voting staff, about her concerns.
“He shouldn’t be there, it is intimidating,” said the voter. “Did you see how his brother spoke to me? Someone should call the cops.”
Quaglione accompanied by his wife, two daughters, Sen. Golden and his brother, Patrick, left the site shortly afterward.
Brannan was also there to cast his vote and was accompanied by his wife. Outside the voting facility, Brannan’s mother and Assemblymember Walter Mosley (D-Fort Greene, Clinton Hill, Prospect Heights, Crown Heights) passed out placards on behalf of the Democratic candidate.
“We’re out here as a fellow Democrat supporting another Democrat in a part of Brooklyn that is evolving and changing and I think with that chance comes a a change of leadership,” said Mosley.
