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As our country is pushed to authoritarianism by Trump, we must ensure that our local elections are actually democratic. Otherwise, we will certainly see the demise of democracy. I implore you to remedy the undemocratic Assembly District Election Meeting (ADEM )voting process that concluded yesterday.

Here's what I experienced: I registered to vote for the ADEM District 14 online long before the deadline of 1/31/2025. I never received anything in the mail and I didn't receive an email with my PIN. I tried to access the online voting option several times, to no avail.

Since I had no other way to vote, I went yesterday to Temple Beth Israel to vote in person. I arrived around 12:45pm and the scene was chaotic. I heard someone say there were no more ballots. I confirmed this was true from one of the volunteers. They were scrambling to try to figure out a solution, as there were dozens of people waiting to vote. 

Someone went to make photocopies of the list of candidates and these became "provisional" ballots. Strewn around the room and on the tables where people were filling out the provisional ballots were many flyers with a District 14 candidate slate with Jesse Arreguin and Buffy Wicks as endorsers at the bottom. I was surprised that this promotional material was so brazenly displayed and wondered if that was even legal to have in the space where people were voting. 

As the chaos continued, I was instructed to log in and get a PIN, as I needed to hand write my PIN on the top of my provisional ballot. I tried at least 5 times to get a PIN, but it didn't work. 

Then, I was instructed to write my name and address on a piece of paper and one of the volunteers (who was incredibly helpful and doing a great job given the extremely challenging situation) called Emma. I was told to wait and that I may or may not receive a PIN. 

I waited for over 30 minutes. During this time, I witnessed at least a dozen people leave without casting a vote, as they didn't trust that their vote would be counted and were appalled by what they saw as a slapdash attempt at democracy. 

My name was called and I was given a PIN. I wrote it on the top of a "provisional" ballot along with my email address. Then, I circled the names of the 14 candidates I wished to vote for. I have little confidence that my vote will get counted. 

I have read a great deal about voter suppression tactics around the country. I couldn't help but wonder yesterday how this looked familiar to what I had read about. 

In order to restore confidence in the local Democratic Party, you must make a public accounting of the disastrous way the ADEM vote was run. The votes should be nullified and a new election process that is well thought out and democratic should be implemented. 

Who was in charge of this effort? What will be the repercussions for this voting debacle? How will you ensure this will never happen again? 

Thank you for taking quick and decisive action.