As we await the final count from several key battleground states, we’re continuing to ask New York readers to share photos of their election experiences (just as we did earlier this year on the topic of life under lockdown). We published the first two galleries of submissions last week, and we hope you will continue to keep sending in your scenes — not just of voting and other signs of this momentous occasion, but also what you’re seeing as we all hunker down for the results and whatever happens next. We’ll keep updating this post with new images.
(There is only one important caveat: Please do not send photos of your or anyone else’s completed ballot or pictures from inside your polling place, as these images are banned in many states — including New York.) You can share your images with us by emailing them to [email protected].
“I took some black and white film photos capturing my voting experience of my four hour line that snaked around my neighborhood’s blocks, and also some portraits of voters.”
“As afraid as I was to vote in person at seven months pregnant, I was more afraid not to. We voted in the rain,” says Sara-Jean Redfield, who is also pictured above.
Reader Michael was the first person to send in a photo of New York’s artist “I voted” stickers in the wild — and has a great story of how he came to be wearing one:
“My partner Denis and I met on 34th Street to get in line to vote at Madison Square Garden on Tuesday. We were in line for about an hour and a half. While we waited, a few homeless people approached us and asked for money (I gave one of them $5), a woman stopped to ask if her voting place was the same for early voting as it was for November 3 (we told her it probably wasn’t and that she should check), and Denis recognized one of the poll workers as a Broadway conductor he’s worked with several times (as Broadway professionals, we are all out of work due to the coronavirus shutdown of our industry).
As we got closer to entering the Garden, I asked the woman behind us, who’d been reading the current issue of New York, if she wouldn’t mind sharing one of her stickers from the cover. She and the people within earshot all thought I was crazy, that they weren’t real stickers, but she started picking at it, and lo and behold they were. She said to me, ‘Sure! You want a gay one? How about the cowboy?’ I happily obliged.
That lovely (and observant) woman is pictured in the background. I’m grateful for the sticker share, and I love her bag.”
“I’ve been waiting for this day since November 9, 2016. It was fast, safe, and professional — so grateful for all the volunteers at P.S. 811 for making voting on the UWS a breeze.”
“Voted. Took 3 hours.”
“Only in L.A. can you vote at a polling place with the best view of the city *and* pick up some World Series merchandise while you’re there.”
“Voting like my life depends on it!”
“Voted with my wonderful daughter in Queens NYC today.”
“Voted today in Dyker Heights, Brooklyn. Wore my RBG pearls and made sure my voice was heard.”
“No line, no wait in Sunset Park, Brooklyn. I would say my polling place was ‘bustling,’ though. There was a good vibe in there. It was a ghost town in 2016.”
“Voted early, in person, easy! Channeling RBG as I cast my ballot after waiting four long years. Crushed that we lost her too soon, but proud to honor her memory.”
“The lightweight camp chair I sat in whenever we weren’t moving kept my aging back happy, and the line moved surprisingly fast to my early polling place on East 25th.”
“Feeling a little guilty that I had zero wait on Friday a.m. at the 25th and First early polling station, likely due to the rain and cold, but felt such a wonderful kick of adrenaline after. Been waiting so long for this day, and I pray semblance of sanity back in the White House.”
“It moved like a Swiss watch in there. No line. No wait!”
“West Coast drop-box voter.”
“Waiting in line.”
“My boyfriend is from Pakistan, and this was his first time being able to vote as an American citizen — very exciting! My rabbit Croissant was equally excited to chew on his sticker after.”
Thanks again to everyone who has sent in their images and stories. You can view more in the previous galleries in the series. And we hope you will continue to share your own scenes with us by emailing them to [email protected].
