NYC NOW - October 24, 2023: Evening Roundup

Episode Date: October 24, 2023

New Jersey Senator Bob Menendez pleaded not guilty in federal court this week on the most recent charge against him. Plus, dozens of Attorney Generals across the nation are suing Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram. And finally, WNYC’s Michael Hill and Brigid Bergin discuss an interesting City Council race in Brooklyn, two weeks ahead of Election Day.

Welcome to NYC Now, your source for local news in and around New York City from WNYC. I'm Jene Pierre. Another not guilty plea from New Jersey Senator Bob Menendez. Menendez was back in federal court this week on the most recent charge against him, the conspiracy charge that alleges he acted as an agent of the Egyptian government. The Garden State Democrat has been defiant since he was charged last month in a bribery scandal. Prosecutors say the senator and his wife, Nadine Menendez, accepted bribes of cash, gold bars, and a luxury car over the past five years

from three New Jersey associates in exchange for a variety of corrupt acts, including doing favors for the Egyptian government. More than 30 Democrats have called on Menendez to resign. Attorneys General Letitia James of New York and Matt Placken of New Jersey are among the dozens of AGs across the nation suing Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram. Their new lawsuit contends the company knowingly includes, features harmful to the mental health of kids and teens, such as algorithms designed to keep you

on the platform longer and visual filters that can have negative impacts for kids. In response to the suit, a meta-spokesperson says the company shares the AG's goals of providing safe online spaces for teens, but are disappointed they're suing instead of working with companies to create age-appropriate standards. Stick around. There's more after the break. Election Day is just two weeks out. And there are some deadlines coming up this week if you need to register to vote or if you plan to apply for an absentee ballot. And in Brooklyn, there's an interesting city council race happening. For more, my colleague Michael Hill talked with WMYC's senior politics reporter, Bridget Bergen.

Let's talk about some of those deadlines. What's first this week? Well, Monday was the deadline to apply for an absentee ballot online or by mail. Now, if you miss that, did you can start. still go in person to your local board of elections office up until the day before election day. So that would be Monday, November 6th. Now, just as a note, you need to select an excuse when you apply for an absentee ballot. And those excuses have changed slightly this year.

What are the reasons you can choose from? I remember fear of contracting COVID-19 was a valid excuse during the pandemic. Has that changed? It has, Michael. That provision actually sunset at the end of last year. Now, the only valid excuses are if you're going to be out of the five boroughs on election day, you're unable to go to the polls because of a temporary or permanent illness or disability. You're the caretaker of someone who is sick or disabled, or you're in jail or prison for anything other than a felony conviction.

And just to be clear, that means even if you're in jail awaiting a grand jury, but you have not been convicted of a felony, you can still apply for an absentee valid and vote, although you need to apply online yesterday. another reminder, once you request that absentee ballot, that's kind of it. You cannot change your mind and opt to vote in person on a machine. You used to be able to do that, but that law also changed. Now, if you requested an absentee ballot and you try to go and vote in person instead, elections officials will give you an affidavit ballot. And of course, they're only going to count one ballot.

So whichever you return first is the one that will be counted. All right. So that's the absentee ballot deadlines. There's also a voter registration deadline. right? That's right. So that is this coming Saturday. The first day of early voting is also the last day to register to vote. You see what they did there, Michael? So you can register and vote on the same day. That's right. Voting rights boosters, they call it a golden day. Now, this is only for newly registered voters in New York. But when you go to your poll site, you can vote. If you've just registered that day,

you will be given an affidavit ballot. You know, efficient way to do is, of course, to register to vote online. But you can actually do that. Register to vote online and cast a ballot on the same golden day this coming Saturday. You mentioned early voting. That begins on Saturday and runs until when? So that starts Saturday and it runs for nine days, including two weekends. So the last day of early voting is Sunday, November 5th.

Then on Monday, the Board of Elections shuts everything down, resets thousands, of additional poll sites for Election Day on Tuesday, November 7th. Now, that's why it's a really good idea to check your poll site before you go out to vote. And the best place to check that information is online at vote.n.yc. That's the Board of Elections website. There's a button right in the middle of the page that says, find my poll site. Click on that, follow the prompts, and you'll know where to go, whichever day you decide to vote. All right, Bridget, before you go, let's talk about another competitive city council race. Which one is on your radar this week? This week, we're going to going to spotlight the new district 43. It includes portions of Bensonhurst, Gravesend,

Diker Heights, and kind of zigzags north near Sunset Park and Borough Park. There is no incumbent in this district. Remember last week we talked about a race that had two incumbents that says no incumbent. This was a district created through the redistricting process, as they all were, and it was created as what's known as an Asian Opportunity District based on the changing demographics of this area. Now, I want to emphasize Asian American voters are a very ethnically diverse group of voters. By population, Chinese American voters are the largest ethnic subgroup, and this new district has a large population of Chinese American voters. Representatives of the Chinese American community in these neighborhoods actively lobbied

the city during the redistricting process to create this new council district that would allow them to be united in one council district as opposed to what they had been, which was divided among four other districts. And tell us a little bit about the candidates on the ballot for this South Brooklyn Council seat. So there are three candidates on the ballot in this race. There's Democrat Susan Zwang, who describes herself as a first-generation New Yorker, working mother. She's currently chief of staff for assembly member William Colton. Republican Yintang is also a mother and has worked supporting seniors in the district. And then there is conservative Vito LaBella, who also grew up in Brooklyn, has raised his children in the district. All of the candidates talk a lot about

addressing public safety and the rise in anti-Asian violence. This race is going to be really interesting to watch because voters there are obviously picking a new representative, but there have been several reports looking at the shift to the right among Asian voters, particularly in communities with higher populations of Chinese American voters. We saw that, you know, right-leaning candidates have done better there in the 2021 mayoral election in last year's gubernatorial race. So while there are far more registered Democrats in the district, the next

largest share of voters are non-affiliated voters, people who are not registered with any party. And since this is an off-election cycle, everything really boils down to who can turn out voters. And it's going to be interesting to see which candidate can appeal to a larger share of these unaffiliated voters. And what we learn about the strength of the major parties to turn out voters in this off-year election cycle. That's WMYC's senior politics reporter, Bridget Bergen, talking with my colleague, Michael Hill. Thanks for listening to NYC now from WNYC. Catch us every weekday three times a day.

I'm Jene Pierre. We'll be back tomorrow.