As a result of Hurricane Sandy Lindenhurst residents who are supposed to vote in Tuesday's election at Harding Avenue Elementary School will now be heading to Bower Elementary School on Montauk Highway.
The Suffolk County Board of Elections has been working closely with FEMA, LIPA, the Office of Homeland Security, the Governor’s office and local municipalities to assure the accessibility of our polling places on Election Day, board of elections officials in a statement on Monday afternoon.
"We've completed the assessment of our polling places, and have relocated several polling locations due to limited accessibility. We've notified the voters in those locations, and posted the location changes through various media outlets. Our absentee ballot program has been ongoing. We're confident all of our polling locations will be up and ready for voters on schedule," officials said.
As of Friday afternoon the County BOE had made arrangements to move seven Suffolk polling places in communities including Deer Park, Oak Beach, Ocean Bay Park, Northport, Ocean Beach and Kings Park.
Lindenhurst's Harding Avenue has been added to that list, according to County BOE officials who spoke with Lindenhurst Patch on Monday afternoon.
Lindenhurst School District officials on Saturday echoed what Superintendent Richard Nathan told Patch last Wednesday, that the school had some water in the boiler room, but it's been pumped out and cleaned up.
However, Nathan told Patch on Monday that between the dusk to dawn curfew imposed by Suffolk Police and Babylon Town until further notice, and the fact the school still doesn't have power, he told County BOE officials it didn't make sense to keep it as a polling place.
He said he declined the Board's offer to open it with heaters and generators, opting for the safety of residents South of Montauk Highway who've been severely impacted by Sandy.
"I didn't feel comfortable doing that," he said.
And the Board responded accordingly, changing the polling location on Monday afternoon from Harding to Bower - which now has power, the superintendent noted.
All other polling places in Lindenhurst remain the same for the November 6 presidential election, as all other schools in the District have power now.
Meanwhile, election officials further noted in a statement, "We're doing everything possible to ensure that our elections will move forward as scheduled."
The County BOE added absentee voting hours have been extended to Monday from 9 a.m. until 7 p.m.
For questions or more information call the Board of Elections at 631-852-4500.
Click here to find your polling place.
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