From the Liveblog of
Tuesday, November 3, 2020
New Yorkers line up to vote in ‘Mrs. Maisel Country’
NEW YORK — New Yorkers are lined up outside a polling station at Louis Brandeis High School in Manhattan’s Upper West Side neighborhood sometimes referred to as “Mrs. Maisel Country.”
Larry Fleischer exits the school smiling with two “I voted” stickers patted to his sweater.
“I only had to wait five minutes!” He says excitedly. “When I tried to come during early voting, I was told I’d have to wait five hours.”
After covering three elections in Israel, this reporter has had to quickly get used to finding different ways to ask voters about their experience at the ballot as only in the Jewish state is it considered appropriate to inquire of a stranger whom they voted for.
But asked what issues he was most concerned with when casting his ballot, Fleischer doesn’t mind sharing the private information. “The issue I cared about was voting out Donald Trump.”
He says he has little problem saying that publicly given how heavily Democrat the Upper West Side leans.
Perhaps that is why Sarah declines to disclose her last name after revealing that she voted for Trump.
“I wouldn’t share that with a lot of people in the neighborhood,” says the 71-year-old, even though this reporter hasn’t inquired directly.
Sarah says she decided to vote in person on election day because she was worried that her otherwise ballot could be tampered with.
“We don’t know what’s going on with those mail-in ballots,” she says, shaking her head.
Married couple Frannie and Steven say that as Jewish senior citizens, the issues on their minds when casting their ballots were healthcare, the environment, and COVID.
“We need new leadership,” says Steven, as his wife wonders whether this reporter knows her cousin in Israel.
— Jacob Magid
The Times of Israel Community.