With nearly 50% reporting, BushwickBK is calling this race for DIANA REYNA, who at 60% is 25 points ahead of Maritza Davila even after rival Democratic primary candidate Gerry Esposito gave Davila his support.

Bloomberg wins only 4% ahead of Thompson — close call for $100 million. In third party news, the Conservative Party got more than fringe numbers in some of the races, up to nearly 5% in some positions.

It’s election day, voters, so get out there and cast your vote for whoever talks a good talk or even, less likely, walks a good walk. Here in the 34th, it’s Reyna vs. Davila, and the Maritza-mobiles are out in force. Aaron Short is also out in… well he’s out, and covering election shenanigans the district over. Check back for live updates and tonight, we’ll call the election for the winners.

 
 
Tense at Reyna HQ.

8:26 PM: I slowly make my way through Northside Williamsburg, where there is one big polling site on North 5th and Driggs, a school, MS 577, where Diana Reyna recently celebrated the opening of a new playground. At one corner of the site was Northside activist Phil DePaolo, who supported Gerry Esposito and Tony Avella before switching to Diana Reyna and Bill Thompson. At the other corner was Maria Viera, a Williamsburg resident, an RBSCC organizer, and a Maritza supporter. Maria, like many of the volunteers today, had been awake for fifteen hours. She was cold, tired, and she wanted to go home.

“Whoever wins today is the winner,” said Maria.

We talked a little bit and I mentioned that there had been some chatter that she would have been a good council candidate too and maybe she would run for office someday. She laughed.

“I don’t know where you’re getting your information,” said Maria.

What about community board?

“I’ll think about it.”

Down the street at Diana Reyna headquarters (Bedford and South 1st), a steady stream of volunteers poured into the storefront, getting treated to coffee and bagels for a day’s job well done. Esteban Duran checked a spreadsheet while campaign staffer Antonio Reynoso monitored the white board where everyone’s assignments were placed. It looked like he hadn’t left the office the entire day.

“This is the first time I ever took a Five-Hour Energy Drink,” said Antonio. “That stuff works. The only thing is that I took it five and a half hours ago.”

When polls close at 9 PM, all the volunteers will be moved across the street, leaving only the organizers inside the office as the returns trickle in. On primary night, the volunteers kept banging the glass to hear the latest updates. Time to slip away quietly and go check the returns.

 
 
Cooper Park President Diana Jackson gets the vote out for Reyna.

6:16 PM: Cooper Park Houses is a decent walk from the Graham L stop, beginning on Kingsland and Skillman. Despite the darkness that now engulfed the borough, Davila and Reyna volunteers gathered around two sides of the B24 bus stop, reminding residents to vote before polls close at 9 PM. I am here to talk with one person: Cooper Park Residents Association President Diana Jackson.

“You’ll hear her before you see her,” said Paulette Breeden who was standing in front of 60 Kingsland, next to the polling site.

Breeden called Jackson to locate her, and I soon heard her on her bullhorn shouting:

“Diana Reyna! Come out! Come out in numbers! We need to support her the way she has supported us the past eight years! You know what they say, if it ain’t broke don’t fix it… Row A all the way!”

Uh oh. She’s got a slogan.

“I am so tired,” she confides to another volunteer. “I was going through these buildings, knocking on these doors. All of a sudden my sugar plummeted.”

Jackson said turnout was high in Cooper Park. At 1 PM, there were 500 votes compared with 290 at the same time in the primaries. She had been working for the past two weeks visiting residents and reminding them to vote on November 3, preferably for Reyna. With thirty years of experience working in politics, Jackson’s endorsement carries a lot of weight here.

“We need to remind people what Diana has done for this community. She deserves another four years. You need to convince people door to door. Handing out flyers doesn’t get you elected,” said Jackson.

“It’s not hard to sell Diana Reyna to these residents,” she continued. “She’s here all the time. The children know her. She’s supported youth leagues and block parties. Give her your vote. That’s all we ask.”

She mentions that Cooper Park was the only housing project that Diana won in the primary and that Bushwick/Hylan Houses supports Maritza for political reasons (the president of the association is Maritza’s cousin). Vito Lopez has typically done well in the housing projects, but Cooper is different. Residents feel like they have not gotten enough funding from the state to maintain the buildings, and they blame Vito.

I ask Jackson for her predictions.

“I’m going to go to my room and turn on the TV at 11 PM and I’m going to hear that Diana won,” she said.

 
 
NY1 heard about the drama.

4:45 PM: Let’s take a step back from the on-the-ground electioneering and look at media coverage of the race so far. The New York Times wrote an editorial endorsing Diana Reyna, that was likely prompted by Bishop Nicholas DiMarzio’s robocalls. The story first went to religion reporter Paul Vitello, who was writing about Archbishop Timothy Dolan’s blogging, and he could have shifted it to Michael Powell, who ultimately wrote the robocall story for the Times. The Times also has a summary of the day’s action.

On the beat today, I saw New York 1 filming voters at PS 19 as they exited the polls, the Greenpoint Gazette‘s Juliet Linderman, and a Columbia Journalism School student filing for the school’s website. She also came across the crime scene.

Both sides are confident, though the Reyna people are pointing to the placement of Nydia at PS 50 next to Maritza and the confusion over Line E as tipping the race to Diana. The Maritza people are pointing to high turnout in Lindsay Park and Hasidic voters on the South Side. No sightings of Vito anywhere. I’m heading to Cooper Park in an hour and then a couple of stops on the northside.

 
 
Shooting at Lorimer and Ten Eyck… probably not election-related.

3:13 PM: I head towards PS 19 when I hear an NYPD chopper circling around the south side above. Geez, what happened at PS 19?

When I get to Lorimer Street and Ten Eyck, at 2:55 PM, police have cordoned off the area with yellow tape. I notice 90th Precinct Deputy Inspector Michael Kemper.

“Someone got shot 15 minutes ago,” said Kemper, as detectives were interviewing witnesses. I assume this is not election-related.

Down the street on South 3rd and Keap Street, Maritza volunteers were hovered next to two Maritza mobiles while Diana volunteers, including several teachers, were standing nearby. Karina Taveras from the Reyna camp explained what all the trouble was.

“They had their people right by the door passing out lit and the rule is you have to stand 100 feet back. I called our lawyer and I called the cops,” said Taveres. “That was at 6 AM. It’s a long day.”

I notice Amy Cleary, a staff member with Assemblymember Joe Lentol’s office who was volunteering with the Board of Elections to keep the peace. Any Vito sightings Amy?

“No, he hasn’t passed by,” she said.

A Hasidic man was standing near the polling site’s entrance and he motioned me over.

“I read your analysis last night but you got one thing wrong,” he said.

“The Hasidic vote?” I asked.

“The Hasidic vote,” he nodded. “Maritza lost by 250 votes. We’re going to have more than 250 voters from the Hasidic neighborhood in three polling sites. I predict Maritza will win by a very close margin.”

 
 
“The priests hate Diana.”

2:15 PM: I grab a cup of sour coffee from the Thompson office (let’s be fair, it’s been sitting in its Dunkin Donuts container since 5 AM so I’m not expecting much) and make a few stops through Italian Williamsburg.

There are Maritza posters in the Italian-American businesses where there used to be Gerry Esposito signs, but no sign of Gerry Esposito anywhere. I notice Holden McNeeley of the comedy group Murderfist leaving a bodega in a hurry with several rolls of toilet paper. Holden, who are you voting for?

“Uhhhh… Diana.” said Holden. “I gotta go.”

At PS 132 on Conselyea Street there are two Diana volunteers and down the street at the Swinging Sixties Center (211 Ainslie Street) there are two Maritza volunteers. They are Phil Manna, the former Capo of the Our Lady of Mount Carmel’s Feast of the Giglio and Dorothy Barata, a Ridgewood Bushwick staffer. During the primary, Manna was stumping for Gerry Esposito on this corner. Now he’s wearing a white Maritza Davila sweatshirt.

“I’m from Staten Island and this is wildly exciting,” said Barata. “It would be nice if Maritza won. We’d have a friend in the City Council.”

I ask Phil about the robocalls by Brooklyn Bishop Nicholas DiMarzio and the Catholic Church’s role in this race in general.

“The priests hate Diana,” he said.

 
 
Thumbs up at the Thompson office.

1:05 PM: I walk up Graham Avenue to make a stop at Bill Thompson’s Williamsburg headquarters on the corner of Maujer and Lorimer Street. Juan Martinez, Diana Reyna’s Council opponent in 2001 is running the office, which is coordinating about 100 volunteers for Bushwick, Williamsburg, and Greenpoint. Earlier this morning, at 3 AM, fourteen volunteers came in to collect and distribute posters. By 5:30 AM the rest of the crew came in to be sent out to polling stations throughout North Brooklyn.

“We’re making phone calls to Pro-Thompson supporters. We’re calling the favorites. We’re tryig to make sure each Election District in North Brooklyn has 100 votes for Bill Thompson,” said Martinez.

I ask Juan what he thinks about the race in the 34th and he says he thinks Diana should be safe because voters will vote on the Democratic ticket.

“That’s not my race. I’m here to focus on Bill Thompson to make sure he becomes the next mayor,” said Martinez. He pauses. “You should go to PS 19 on South 3rd Street. Police have been called there three times already.”

On my way.

 
 
Marty Needelman: watching the polls.

12:25 PM: Time for a swing back through PS 250. I heard there was a Vito sighting, but that’s not correct. Instead, State Senator Marty Dilan is holding down the fort mostly by himself. Diana is still here and she greets a van load of fifteen TWU (Transportation Workers Union of America) members who are volunteering for her for the rest of the day. Isn’t it odd that the Senate’s Transportation Chair is supporting Maritza while the TWU is throwing weight behind Diana?

Marty just came back from Buffalo and Syracuse as part of his kickass Transportation Capital Plan tour, also known as Monsters of Transit ’09.

“It’s not that cold yet up there but the foliage is past its peak,” he said.

There’s a serious dispute inside the polling station. Brooklyn Legal Services attorney Marty Needelman is urging Board of Election workers to remove a Chinese interpreter from the polling site because he is a Maritza supporter. The man is present in a photograph that is displayed outside the polling site which says “Lindsay Park For Maritza Davila.” Steve Levin is hovering trying to convince the BOE to keep the interpreter but he is losing this battle and his temper.

“Marty (Needelman) is trying to get an interpreter shipped out because he’s on the other side,” said Levin.

“That’s correct,” said Needelman.

This issue regarding Chinese interpreters came up earlier during the primary and during the recount, when Needelman challenged several ballots at this ED. Needelman noted that the Board of Elections workers are politically appointed as well as the interpreters.

“They go inside and show them how to vote,” said Needelman.

A Board of Elections staffer who was looking into the dispute said that she would be moving the interpreter to another site just to be on the safe side. Meanwhile, Diana was eating what passed for lunch: a Ziploc bag of mango slices she purchased from The Chicharron Man.

 
 
Congressmember Nydia Velázquez projects her power at the Hylan Houses.

10:55 AM: Here comes the cavalry, led by Congressmember Nydia Velázquez. Maritza’s jaw drops and she turns around. Nydia puts on her jacket and gets to work shaking hands on the MS 50 side of the street.

“Did you see the editorial in the New York Times?” said Nydia. We did.

I ask Nydia how things are going so far.

“Hot,” said Nydia. But it’s 49 degrees outside! “No, it’s heated. Lots of emotions here.”

Rob Solano, from Churches United for Fair Housing and a Reyna supporter mentions that some Democratic poll workers have been encouraging voters to vote Row E, the Working Families Party line, instead of just assisting them with their ballot. I go inside the polling site at John Hylan houses to find out more and I encounter a Board of Elections worker listening to an Inspector having an animated converstaion with a Reyna campaign official.

“Nobody is telling anybody who to vote for or which line to pick,” says the site’s Inspector.

The BOE official explained to me that the Reyna camp was alleging that interpreters were improperly assisting voters though the lines of what an interpreter could do and not do were blurry.

Outside, a Maritza supporter shouted at the John Hylan tower nearest to the road.

“Everybody come downstairs and vote for Maritza!”

 
 
“A machine is broken.” — Luis Garden Acosta

10:34 AM: Time to stop by the other big election site in the district, MS 50 (John Hylan School) over on Humboldt and Moore Street, where two polling sites sit. Maritza trounced Diana in these election districts during the primary and she needs to do similarly well here to have a chance at toppling Diana.

And here’s Maritza. She has been at this location since at least 7:30 AM and she is surrounded by Evelyn Cruz, Congressmember Nydia Velázquez’s top aide (and a former District Leader candidate) and El Puente‘s Luis Garden Acosta. Maritza does not look happy and she walks away from me defiantly when I ask her how she is doing.

Cruz says that Velázquez was at the corner from 6 AM to 10 AM and she is back at Reyna headquarters on South 2nd Street.

“A machine is broken,” said Garden Acosta. “Two machines in here and one in there, which isn’t good.”

I go inside MS 50 to investigate. One of the machines malfunctioned and a technician is busy working on it as a steady trickle of voters click the switches inside the voting booths. Just then, a problem occurs with another machine. It looks like two ballots need to be deleted. The poll workers are confused and an argument erupts.

“Listen to me. I am the boss! I am the boss, not her!” said the site’s inspector.

 
 
“If you’re on Section A I’ll vote for you. If you’re on Section E, I won’t vote for you.”
   
 
 
Levin makes his pitch for Davila.

10:06 AM: I get a hot tip that Diana Reyna has plopped down in front of MS 250 in Williamsburg, the polling place close to Lindsay Park Houses, one of the highest turnout locations in the District.

Sure enough, there’s Diana right near the entrance, with three volunteers. She’s a little outnumbered. On the corner of Montrose and Manhattan Avenues, there are six Maritza volunteers to every one Diana helper. On the other corner is Steve Levin, the Democratic nominee and likely new councilmember in the 33rd District. Steve is wearing a Maritza Davila t-shirt and probably won’t visit Greenpoint again until he goes home later tonight.

“Turnout is about average,” said Levin, who greeted senior residents on their way to the polls in English and Spanish, reminding them to vote on “Line E.” “The numbers in general will be higher than the primary. The question is how much dropoff will occur (after people vote for the mayoral race).”

Half a block away Diana watched skeptically and assembled her troops.

“You have to be assertive when you walk with me. People do not understand what’s going with the switching of parties,” said Reyna to three female volunteers. “When you have a Democratic leaders asking Democratic voters to switch lines it confuses the voter and it only confuses the voter to stay home.”

A likely voter greets Diana and interrupts the conversation.

“If you’re on Section A I’ll vote for you. If you’re on Section E, I won’t vote for you,” he said.

 
 
Not much excitement at the polls.

9:15 AM: It is hard to believe that only a year ago, Brooklyn voters went to the polls to participate in the most historic election of our lifetimes. The energy was palpable. This year? Not so much.

Inside the polling station at JS 162 on St. Nicholas Avenue and Willoughby Street, poll workers were busy talking about the Yankee game. They looked a little bored.

“The Yankees. Ugh. They lost last night,” said site coordinator Carol Romenick, making a face.

I went into the booth to vote. It took seven seconds.

A volunteer for the Martiza Davila campaign camped herself outside the school. She said thirty people voted so far.

“Maritza is in Williamsburg,” she said.

Williamsburg! Sounds like a great idea.

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