Latimer Gardens Polling Site To Reopen In Flushing, Lawmaker Says

FLUSHING, QUEENS -- Tenants of the Lewis H. Latimer Gardens housing complex will no longer have to trek a half mile from their homes to cast their vote in the 2018 midterm elections, Congresswoman Grace Meng said.

A polling site will reopen for the first time in six years at the New York City Housing Authority complex in Flushing by the time this year's elections come around, Meng (D-Queens) announced on Thursday.

Meng said the New York City Board of Elections agreed to restore the Latimer Gardens polling site, which was shut down in 2012 because the community room voting was done in was difficult for those with disabilities to access. The complex will now house the polling site in its gym, which is handicap accessible, she said.

"The decision to bring back the polling place at Latimer Gardens is great news and I'm thrilled that local residents will once again be able to cast their ballots there," Meng said.

Tenants of the complex previously had to trek half a mile away to cast their ballot at the nearest polling place in P.S. 214 Cadwallader Colden School. The ordeal made voting difficult - sometimes impossible - for anyone who relied on canes, walkers and wheelchairs to get around, Meng said.

Meng initially requested the Latimer Gardens polling site, which originally opened in 2006, be reinstated in a letter penned to BOE and NYHA heads in November.

“It will make it much easier for these voters to access the ballot box and it knocks down the barriers that residents faced in exercising their right to vote," she said.

The BOE will soon inform voters through the mail about their new voting location, Meng said.

Lead photo via Shutterstock.