Latinos Most Affected by NY Voter Purge of 120,000 People

Earlier in 2016, an investigative report by local news station WNYC revealed that two illegal voter purges removed over 120,000 people from voting rolls in Brooklyn; now they’ve investigated that majority-Latino election districts were purged nearly 60 percent more than all other districts, Gawker reported Tuesday.

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Michael Ryan, the executive director of the Board of Elections, apologized for the purges at a City Council hearing last month, saying it was a mistake. Two clerks in the Brooklyn office were also suspended without pay.

Back in November 2014, 1,308,871 people were registered to vote in Brooklyn, but the following July, 122,454 voters were removed from the rolls. Of these, 13.9 percent lived in majority-Latino election districts, compared to 8.7 percent in all other election districts. WNYC found also found 15.2 percent of people with historically Latino surnames were purged, as compared to 9.5 percent of people with all other names.

Longtime representative Nydia Velazquez has previously clashed with the Brooklyn Democratic party, and will face two primary challengers in the upcoming election.

“I do not want to think that it was deliberate, you know, because that would be voter suppression, and at a time when the Voting Rights Act is under attack in Washington, to have this type of action in a city and state like New York, a Democratic city, it’s just beyond any comprehension,” Velazquez told WNYC. “How could they purge 120,000 and no one knew that this was happening?”

“It’s just, by looking at that map I could say, ‘Hey, I’ve been targeted or my district has been targeted,’ just by looking at it,” she added. “By looking at the numbers. We’ll see. But it’s not going to end here.”