Polls stayed open due to long lines

BUFFALO, N.Y. (WIVB) -  The Brown party gathered at D'Arcy McGees in downtown Tuesday night as he won his second term as Buffalo Mayor.

Thanking his supporters Brown exclaimed, "You did it, you did it!" He continued, "We've proved that the dirty politics of our opponent could not beat the progress we've achieved since 2006."

The Brown camp was waging an unexpected battle on primary day due to long lines at some polling places because the Erie County Board of Elections consolidated many districts like on in Buffalo's Kensington Bailey neighborhood.

"They put one voting machine in here for 3 election districts. This is after they changed people's areas to go vote on top of it," said Bonnie Russell, University District Council Member.

Many voters waited in line for an hour.

Buffalo voter Mary Williams said, "It's horrible. We shouldn't have to wait that long to vote."

"In one case at least, there were 6 election districts and just one voting booth, and people were waiting for hours and we thought those people should have the right to vote and we went to court to win them the right to vote and thank goodness a judge gave us the right to keep those polls open," said Brown.

The Mayor's campaign attorney Steve Pigeon went to State Supreme Court and got an immediate "Show Cause" order, reminding all inspectors that anyone who is still in line when the polls close at 9 still gets to vote. At one polling place, the last voter inside finally voted at 9:45.

"I think it's somewhat ridiculous. I think we're going back to almost the Jim Crows days where you affect the outcome," said another Buffalo voter, Anthony.

The consolidation of voting machines was done across the city. In fact, one volunteer who worked all day down in South Buffalo tells me they also consolidated 3 districts to one machine, and there were no long lines there.