Jumaane Williams (Photo: Facebook)

Reports of chaotic situations at the polls around New York City this Election Day are mounting. The areas on the southwestern tip of Brooklyn that were damaged by Hurricane Sandy have experienced issues, but we're also hearing about problems in neighborhoods that weren't heavily impacted by the storm including Flatbush, Park Slope and parts of Manhattan. Brooklyn Councilman Jumaane Williams, who has been touring the polling sites in the East Flatbush and Flatbush portions of his district described the situation as "complete disorganization" and had harsh words for the city Board of Elections. He also suggested the federal or city government may need to take action against the BOE to prevent a similar situation from happening again.

"I think on a non-Sandy day they have problems doing a good election," Mr. Williams said of the BOE. "Combine that with Sandy and they're completely unorganized. They've had four years to plan this. Their only job is to plan elections and they can't get it right. And you should have conditional plans, you should have backup plans, you should have contingency plans. Where are those plans? This is getting worse and worse."

Mr. Williams visited three schools and a church in Flatbush and East Flatbush. He said all of the sites had incredibly long lines and overall disorganization that he called a "complete breakdown." When asked about the issues that contributed to the problems at the polls, Mr. Williams fired off a long laundry list of problems.

"Not enough poll workers, the schematics of how they set up how people come in haven't been good, they haven't been giving good info to people who are waiting in line and they haven't been directing the crowd and traffic properly," he said.

According to Mr. Williams, the worst situation he witnessed was at the VanderVeer Park United Methodist Church where he said voters waited in lines that were over four hours long.

"They were trying to squeeze people into one small hallway, into one small room that had 3 [electoral districts] in it. Two of the tables were completely empty, nobody, because the E.D.'s weren't the busiest and then one of them was the busiest clogging everything up," said Mr. Williams.

At a press conference this afternoon, Mayor Michael Bloomberg blasted the BOE's performance today and their new scantron system that he said has contributed to crowding at the polls and made counting votes more difficult.  The BOE was heavily criticized this summer after widespread issues with their count of the results in the congressional primary between State Senator Adriano Espaillat and Congressman Charlie Rangel led to the outcome of the race being unclear for nearly two weeks.

"This is absolutely chaos," Mr. Williams said. "I didn't think the BOE could top themselves after the primaries, but they've done just that."

Due to the chaos at the polls in Flatbush, Mr. Williams said some people have given up on voting and left before casting their ballots.

"I haven't seen personally people leave. People have told me that they're going to leave and people on the line have told me that people have already left," said Mr. Williams. "People are complaining because they have to go to work and they're asking me if they could get fired for going to vote. So, there's a lot of pressures here."

Multiple sources have told Politicker the chaos at the polls today could impact the results of local races, particularly in the areas most hard-hit by Hurricane Sandy. Mr. Williams said he thinks that, while the presidential race clearly had to go on, the BOE should have postponed the local contests in the wake of the storm.

"The local elections positively, absolutely should have been cancelled. I think it was a dereliction of duty not to postpone the local elections. I mean, this is so unfair to anybody who's running in a local election. It's completely unfair. It's a travesty to what we're calling democracy to have had these local elections go forward."

Given his obvious dissatisfaction with the BOE's Election Day performance, we asked Mr. Williams whether he believes the federal government should take action against the agency.

"I think somebody's got to look at it. Somebody has to look at it," Mr. Williams said. "I mean they just can't keep going on like this. We are disenfranchising voters on a large scale and that's problematic. If they can't do it, then somebody needs to look into them."

We also asked Mr. Williams whether he and other colleagues in the City Council might take action against the BOE.

"I'm going to do whatever I can do to make sure that the BOE is doing their job, because they're not and they need to be held accountable and that's not happening," said Mr. Williams. "Every time it's getting worse. It's getting worse. I don't know what other words to use. This is disgraceful."

We called the BOE and asked them to respond to Mr. Williams' criticisms and the reports of issues at polling places in Flatbush, Coney Island, the Rockaways and Park Slope, where police were called in to restore order on the crowded lines at M.S. 51. The woman who answered the phone said we would need to speak with BOE spokeswoman Valerie Vazquez.

"You'd have to speak with our public relations officer. At this time, she's in the field settling problems as the ones you mentioned."

As of this writing, Ms. Vazquez hasn't responded to a message left on her cell phone.

Congressman Bob Turner (Getty)

Congressman Bob Turner released a press release earlier this afternoon regarding the hate crime that took place in Flatbush early this morning leaving three cars torched and anti-Semitic graffiti scrawled on nearby benches. The crime occurred outside his district, but Congressman Turner is never shy about seeking goodwill in the Jewish community.  

“These anti-Semitic acts of vandalism and arson are appalling and unacceptable. We cannot allow acts like this to take place in our communities. The individuals who did this should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law,” Congressman Turner said.

Congressman Turner doesn't represent Flatbush, but his perch in the 9th Congressional District boasts a large Jewish population and the Catholic Congressman managed to win September's special election to replace disgraced former Congressman Anthony Weiner by aggressively courting the Jewish vote. Since then, he has continued to pay a great deal of attention to Jewish issues.

“I have been a member of this community my entire life and know that it is one of tolerance and understanding; A community that prides itself on its rich Jewish history and interfaith cooperation. New York is a tremendous melting pot of people of all races and faiths and we are proud of that tradition," Congressman Turner said.

Congressman Turner lives South of Flatbush in the predominantly Irish neighborhood of Breezy Point. It was not immediately clear which community he was referring to in his statement about the arson.

Councilman David G. Greenfield (Photo: New York City Council)

Brooklyn Councilman David Greenfield is offering a $1,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the people responsible for an anti-Semitic attack on Flatbush. Three cars were torched. Graffiti featuring swastikas. the phrase "Kill The Jews" and "KKK" were also scrawled on benches near the scene.

“We will not accept anti-Semitism in our community.  There is zero tolerance for such acts of hatred and ignorance,” Councilman Greenfield said in a statement.

Officers from the 66th Precinct and the NYPD hate crimes task force are investigating the attack, which occurred on Ocean Parkway between Avenues I and J. Police believe the incident occurred sometime around five this morning.

“I’m confident that these hateful people will be caught and punished to the full extent of the law,” Councilman Greenfield said.