Hans Pennink Richard Drew/AP America is watching to see if Rep. Charles Rangel (right) will score another term after Tuesday’s primary vote. The veteran legislator is running against state Sen. Adriano Espaillat (left). Political observers and the media have been fixated on upper Manhattan and the Bronx, where voters are set to decide whether to send Rep. Charles Rangel to Congress for a 23rd term.
But ask 35 random locals if they care that their vote could impact such a historic election, and here’s what you’ll find: most don’t.
“Who is Rangel?” said William Rivera, 52, from East Harlem, who was spotted handing out flyers for a jewelry store on E. 125th St. and Fifth Ave. last week. “I never heard of him. I’m for real.”
Rivera said he didn’t know there was an election on Tuesday, and he appeared to be satisfied in his ignorance.
“A lot of these politicians are a bunch of crooks,” he said. “To me, it’s a hustle.”
Nine of the respondents — 25.7% — didn’t know it was time to head to the polls and said they were not going to go. The same number said they knew of the election, but were undecided as to whether they’d cast a ballot.
Pundits are closely watching the race, which pits Rangel against state Sen. Adriano Espaillat (D-Washington Heights) and a pair of dark horse candidates, Harlem Pastor Michael Walrond and Bronx activist Yolanda Garcia.
Espaillat nearly toppled Rangel in 2012, losing by 1,086 votes. Only 15% of the area’s then-registered 357,113 voters went to the polls, according to state Board of Election figures. But the demographics of the district are rapidly changing as more whites and Latinos move into Harlem. The district lines were redrawn to reflect the 2010 census count, and chunks of the Hispanic-heavy Bronx were added to the map.
Alex Bykovsky, 31, who just graduated from City College of New York with a master’s degree in economics and lives on W. 100th St. and Central Park West, wasn’t swayed by the high political stakes.
“I don’t really engage with stuff on the local level,” Bykovsky said. “I move around a lot.”
Veteran political consultants warned that voter apathy is the norm during New York’s congressional primaries, held in early summer rather than in September when city pols are on the ballots.
“People aren’t used to voting in June,” said strategist Jerry Skurnik.
Still, not all Harlem and Bronxites planned to skip out on their civic duty.
Five people said they planned to vote for Rangel and four said they would back Espaillat. No one mentioned Walrond or Garcia.
“Voting in the primary makes me a part of the community,” said Harlem realtor Tamara Sterling, 38, a Rangel fan waiting for the bus on W. 116th St. and Frederick Douglass Blvd. “He is part of our history.”
In Bedford Park, six miles north in the Bronx, pre-school teacher and Dominican immigrant Martha Soto, 32, explained why Espaillat is her choice.
“I became a citizen and it’s my right (to vote),” Soto said while buying produce from a market on Kingsbridge Road and Grand Ave.
“He is one of my people,” he added. “I believe in what he is working for. The other candidate has been there for a long time and hasn’t done much for the people.”
Yahoo Local News – New York Daily News
http://ift.tt/1nxZlzJ
via Great Local News: New York http://ift.tt/1iZiLP1
No comments:
Post a Comment