Snow is Falling on Long Island Voters

New York City winter is so back, with at least six inches expected to fall today before things start to taper off in the mid-afternoon. Children be sledding, huskies be frolicing, car-havers be relaxing, and voters…will they vote?

There are two special elections being held today in the metro area. One in the Bronx's 77th Assembly District, to replace Democratic Assemblymember Latoya Joyner, who dubiously left her office in early January to take an as-yet-unannounced job in the private sector. The Bronx Democratic machine nominated Landon Dais to run for Joyner's seat. ("His nomination came as a surprise to political observers who expected a local district leader to get the nod," City & State reported. "But Dais has both an organizing history in nearby Harlem and a well-respected name courtesy of his father, a power broker in Upper Manhattan.")

And then there's the big one: New York's Third Congressional District covering parts of eastern Queens and Long Island that was until very recently held by one George Santos.

Former Rep. Tom Suozzi, the conservative Democrat who primaried Governor Kathy Hochul and had to eat shit for it, has been locked in a battle with Republican Mazi Pilip, a political newcomer who looked the part during the pair's only debate. Democrats have an edge in early voting so far, and while Republicans generally close that gap with in-person voting, today's snowstorm may deter primary voters from heading outside.

In the Times, everyone's favorite Democratic Party Chair and Long Island resident Jay Jacobs questioned whether suburban Republican administrators would clear the roads in Democratic neighborhoods. "Of course we’re worried about where they plow the roads," Jacobs said. Healthy democracy we have here!

Here are some links you can read after you help your neighbor shovel snow:

• NYPD officers fatally shot a man in the Rockaways who was reportedly carrying a toy gun. The State Attorney General's office is investigating the incident.
• One person was killed and five other New Yorkers were injured in a shooting at the Mt. Eden 4 train stop in the Bronx on Monday afternoon. The person who died was reportedly a 34-year-old bystander.
• Civilian complaints against NYPD officers jumped 50 percent last year to their highest amount in a decade.
• "Why Does Mayor Adams Want to Spend $56 Million to Move a Chinatown Plaza Across the Street?"
• New York City may soon ban smoking (and vaping!) from outdoor dining setups.
• "These NYC Voucher Holders Are Fighting to Stay Put"
• The Knicks lost a nailbiter in Houston because the refs didn't want to go through overtime.
• Jon Stewart is on the Daily Show again and it feels like 2016 out there.
• Usher got married in Vegas?!
• And finally, who could have predicted that NYC Schools would be having trouble with its remote learning system right after it declared that Tuesday would be a remote day and not a snow day?