A New York poll watcher says voting machines were left open at the end of the day and staff refused to let her watch the closing

Lulu Friesdat is the co-founder and executive director of SMART Elections (smartelections), a nonpartisan project that focuses on public oversight and fair elections. She leads a team of poll watchers and claimed in a recent Instagram post that a voting center in the Bronx, New York, mishandled its closing procedures, leaving machines unsealed and shutting observers out of the process.

In a video with over 3 million views, posted as early voting runs ahead of the Nov. 3 general election, Friesdat said she was initially pleased with the day since the number of voters matched the number of scanned ballots. She said, “Then I noticed something really weird, which was that all of the poll workers were checking out and going home and the voting machines were still open. They were unlocked, unsealed, and the ballots hadn’t been taken out yet.”

Friesdat said that normally at the end of the night, each voting machine’s assigned poll worker has to close the machine, remove the ballots, and seal both. She claimed that site coordinators became nervous when she insisted on observing the sealing process, and that a deputy chief clerk told her she had to leave the premises. She argued, however, that the law allows poll watchers to stay until the sealed ballots are collected by the police.

Friesdat says she was pushed out before the ballots were sealed

Friesdat claimed that when the ballots were finally collected, they were placed in bags on the floor without proper seals. She told her viewers that she was also denied the chance to verify seal numbers on the paperwork and was told that no one observes the voting machines being closed, a job she said appeared to be left to a single technician after everyone else had gone.

She said she was eventually made to leave by police, and that an attorney confirmed state law allows observers to be present during ballot handling. The New York City Board of Elections’ own poll-site guidance lists authorized poll watchers among those who may observe the closing of the polls. Friesdat then told her viewers that moments like this become “opportunities for cheating.”

The comments section filled with anger and frustration over what users saw as a lack of transparency. One user asked, “What’s the point of having poll watchers if they don’t watch this very crucial part of the process?”

Many commenters tagged New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, asking for an explanation and an immediate mandatory audit of the site, though the Board of Elections operates as a bipartisan body separate from the mayor’s office. Others suggested Friesdat contact the attorney general, the Board of Elections, and even the secretary of state. A different user, identifying themselves as a poll worker, noted that there is supposed to be bipartisan representation at all times, regardless of the circumstances.

The posts arrive as the midterms approach without OSCE election observers, the first federal election since 2002 that the international monitoring group won’t observe. The administration did not extend the group’s usual invitation, a decision the OSCE called regrettable.

In a follow-up post, Friesdat claimed that “the New York City Board of Elections is now attempting to ban me as a poll watcher, and we are taking them to court.” She also alleged that the board was “refusing to let our pollwatchers observe.” Friesdat has gone to court against the board before, as SMART Elections was a lead plaintiff in a 2024 lawsuit over a Harlem primary.

Attack of the Fanboy was unable to independently ve4rify Friesdat’s claims and could not find a public response from the New York City Board of Elections, as this account originates solely from SMART Elections’ Instagram posts.