The Brooklyn Eagle (June 13, 1944)
War vote cards swamp election officials here
Vacations canceled as clerical shortage becomes very serious
By Joseph H. Schmalacker
The arrival of the first substantial load of war ballot applications for the 1944 elections has caused a manpower emergency in the Board of Elections, which threatens apparently to become worse as the flood of applications increases, it was learned today.
Harassed officials of the board have been forced to order cancellations of all vacations of the board’s clerical employees and to appeal to the city administration for at least additional temporary clerks to keep pace with the influx of applications.
The first batch of applications, including the names of about 9,000 of the Brooklyn men in the Armed Forces, has reached a total of 35,000 for the five New York City boroughs.
“And this,” said S. Howard Cohen, president of the board, “is only a beginning.”
250,000 estimated
According to present estimates, he said, this was expected to grow to at least 250,000, which would be about 33⅓% of the total number of individuals now in the Armed Forces from New York City.
Each applicant’s name as it is received requires an examination of old and new voting lists and maps to determine the election, as well as the assembly district where the serviceman’s ballot would be cast. The process has been complicated by the State Reapportionment Act, which revised, consolidated or abolished old districts and established a series of new ones, with all district lines being changed.
The applications pouring into the board’s offices are being transmitted from the State War Ballot Commission at Albany, which is receiving them from men in the Armed Forces in the continental United States and from foreign war stations. The Dewey war ballot law enacted by the Legislature at Albany requires Board of Elections to begin sending out war ballots and envelopes to the men in the Armed Forces on Sept. 7, with Oct. 16 as the deadline. The ballots, to be counted, must be returned no later than Nov. 3 – four days before the date of the presidential election.
Overtaxing staff
Commissioner Cohen said the influx of applications was overtaxing the capacity of the board’s staff to handle them. He said the board’s clerical forces were undermanned and that, in all probability, the employees would be forced to work at night. On top of the huge flood of war ballots, he said, the board faced the problem of handling requests for 40,000 or 50,000 absentee ballots from New York City voters who are entitled to vote although their business affairs make it necessary for them to be out of the state at the time of the election.
The board’s clerical staff has been undermanned since the city administration dropped eight clerks several years ago without replacing them. Hiring temporary clerks represents a problem in itself, according to officials, because of the low pay which the city provides for such work.