The Election Is Tomorrow

Elections: 

• New York’s in-person early voting period ended yesterday, with over 1 million ballots cast in New York City, and more than 2.2 million across the State. The New York City Board of Elections, an agency notorious for problems, did not seem adequately prepared for the high volume, leading to complaints of long lines and insufficient sites. Hours were extended and at least one site was added in Manhattan, but calls to reform the Board abounded.
• Democratic lawmakers could win veto-proof supermajorities in both chambers this election cycle. The State Senate could hinge on five key races.
• Melissa DeRosa, a high-ranking member of the Cuomo Administration, posted an illegal photo of her ballot on Instagram and encouraged voters not to vote on the Working Families Party line. It is a misdemeanor to show a completed ballot to anyone in New York State.
• The New York State Democratic Party sent out a misleading mailer suggesting that Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren support voting down the Democratic ballot line. Both Sanders and Warren have expressed support for the Working Families ballot line, which faces an existential threat this year after a rule change supported by the Cuomo Administration.
• Republican Assembly Member Nicole Malliotakis is locked in a close race for the Staten Island’s House seat and New York Democrats are now eyeing the Assembly seat she is giving up.

Local News:

• The New York Civil Liberties Union and the Legal Aid Society are suing Mayor Bill de Blasio and the NYPD, arguing that they are culpable for the “indiscriminate brutalizing of peaceful protestors” during the Black Lives Matter demonstrations over the summer. 
• Mayor de Blasio announced that the City will begin allowing retail stores to utilize sidewalk space to sell goods. 
• District Council 37, which represents 150,000 city workers, reached a deal with the City to avoid layoffs in exchange for allowing the City to defer payments to union-controlled benefit funds. 
• Community groups who organized to kill the Industry City rezoning are pitching plans to convert the site into an offshore wind turbine factory.
• Mayor de Blasio approved the $2.4 billion sale of the New York Mets to billionaire and insider trading convict Steven Cohen. State Senator Jessica Ramos (District 13, Corona) and de Blasio had previously been critical of the deal.
• The plan to rezone SoHo and NoHo will result in fewer than 1,000 affordable housing units, out of over 3,000 new units created, according to the Department of City Planning.
• A class action lawsuit against a group of Brooklyn landlords alleges that they reported higher rents than they actually offered tenants, allowing them to raise future rents in violation of the state’s rent stabilization laws.
• City and State lawmakers are drafting legislation to prevent self-storage facilities from auctioning off the belongings of New Yorkers who have fallen behind on payments during the pandemic. They’re also asking Governor Cuomo to take measures to stop the practice.
• A judge ruled that the Brooklyn Democratic party violated the law by banning meetings to elect new officers.
• After many parents were reported to the Administration for Children’s Services only because they never received the devices necessary for remote learning, the City is adjusting its response.
• In the absence of federal aid, the MTA is considering cancelling infrastructure improvements and cutting bus and subway service by 40%. If carried out, these cuts could cost the city  up to 450,000 jobs and 50 billion in lost earnings by 2022.
• Despite pledges by City officials to cut spending by $1 billion, the NYPD is on pace to exceed its overtime budget by roughly $116 million this year.