Nine of the coolest polling places in New York City

Since many New Yorkers are planning to vote by mail this year, the NYC Board of Elections launched a ballot tracker program to help ensure ballots are collected and counted.

The election results on November 3rd are up in the air (remember 2016?). But there’s one thing New Yorkers can count on: Your “I Voted” sticker is a ticket to a number of Election Day deals in NYC at restaurants and bars across the city.

If you’re in line waiting to vote, Pizza at the Pools is doing some admirable work feeding citizens and poll workers. If you’re looking to pick up a meal or treats to stress eat your way through the day, here are some of the best Election Day deals NYC has to offer. Another pro tip: Citi Bike and Lyft are offering 50% off one ride with the code "2020VOTE" today.

The Goods Mart

Get a free La Colombe 8-ounce coffee with a voting sticker today and tomorrow at this curated Soho market.

Junior’s

You get a $7 discount off all full-priced cakes sold online through November 3rd. Cupcakes ($4.25) and 6-inch cheesecakes ($18.95) with a “Vote” logo will be sold at the Brooklyn location (386 Flatbush Avenue). The promotion also coincides with the iconic restaurant’s 70th anniversary.

James

Are you an optimist or a pessimist this election cycle? James, the cozy neighborhood restaurant in Prospect Heights, has you covered either way this November 3rd. They’ve curated two Election Survival Kits: The Optimist ($130) includes a bottle of pét-nat, two plum margaritas and ingredients for pasta with a black walnut pesto (there’s an apple crisp for dessert, too). For The Pessimist ($145), there’s a heavier-hitting bottle of red and two Dystopian Negronis to pair with two hanger steaks.

Crop Circle

Crop Circle’s guokui—a thin, crispy flatbread filled with various fillings, such as spicy beef to brown sugar, from Northern China—are sold at a 50% discount for one order with a I Voted sticker. It’s only available until midnight on November 2nd.

Leyla

This popular Turkish restaurant on the Upper West Side is offering a free appetizer—the spinach yarma (a yogurt-based spread with barley, garlic, black sesame and za'atar)—if you show your I Voted sticker. It’s available the entire week.

Good Enough to Eat

You I Voted sticker gets you a free homemade biscuit with strawberry butter with any purchase from the menu (think comfort food like reubens or mac and cheese).

Krispy Kreme

All participating Krispy Kreme locations will be giving away free Original Glazed doughnuts—you don’t even have to show your sticker. In fact, they have their own stickers to hand out on Election Day.

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With a lot on the line this election year with a major presidential race, exercising our right to vote is a must.

These pieces of shareable art are distributed and reposted on other's pages within seconds—encouraging their own social audience to wake up, take action and make a clear voting plan.

New York State Law prohibits voters from showing marked ballots to anyone, but doesn't bar you from photographing yourself in the booth or with an unmarked ballot.

Well, Donald Trump finally got his wall.

As we barrel ahead toward election day, a new installation put up in Soho takes 20,000 false and misleading statements from President Trump and fashions them together to create a massive, 100-foot long mural full of his quotes. (The lies included in the piece were all documented and fact-checked by The Washington Post.)

In fact, this isn’t the first time the mendacious mural has been erected in the city. On October 3, Radio Free Brooklyn installed the first iteration of the piece in Bushwick outside of Pine Box Rock Shop. That first piece drew media attention, and even a visit from Senator Chuck Schumer, but was subsequently defaced with an assortment of pro-Trump slogans including “Vote Trump or Die” and “Stand Back and Stand By.”  

Not willing to let that act of vandalism silence them, the organizers behind the mural launched a fundraising campaign to create a new mural. After raising over $4,000, the team was able to install a new piece that’s twice the size of the original on the corner of Lafayette and Grand Sts. in Manhattan.

The thousands of lies included in the installation are helpfully categorized by color-coded topics. All the greatest hits are there including Russia, Coronavirus, Ukraine, Taxes, Immigration and more. Check out the new public artwork for yourself and, if you haven’t already, don’t forget to make a plan to vote in next week’s general election.

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Over Halloween weekend, New Yorkers walking in Soho and down Fifth Avenue were alarmed—not over spooky Halloween costumes but about stores being boarded up before the November election.

New Yorkers watched workers with buzz saws board up stores like Bloomingdales, Tiffany & Co., Dior, Alexander McQueen, Polo Ralph Lauren, and Louis Vuitton. More were spotted in Times Square on Monday, including the Hard Rock Cafe and an AT&T store.

View this post on Instagram

Boarding up in Soho before election day.

A post shared by amy sacks (@ravishing_radishes) on Nov 1, 2020 at 8:30pm PST

Times Square is pretty boarded up, but most of the ads are still visible pic.twitter.com/eGalrjdjIt

— Ben Feuerherd (@benfeuerherd) November 2, 2020

Macy's flagship store in Herald Square boarding up ahead of Election Day ... preparing for potential unrest ... store will remain open to shoppers #NYC #nbc4ny pic.twitter.com/6Z6rLVhRBJ

— Steven Bognar (@Bogs4NY) October 30, 2020

NYC is prepping for election day riots hunnnny pic.twitter.com/uyFo2bpL33

— ri (@ritaaabee) November 1, 2020

Asked about high number of boarded up #NYC businesses, @NYCMayor says the city has no specific information about post-election violence and has given no guidance to business owners to fortify. But he says he respects their decision to take precautions.
Photo: @NY1 @JustineReTV pic.twitter.com/wTjrme8Ym0

— Pat Kiernan (@patkiernan) November 2, 2020

By boarding up, New York City stores are bracing for the possibility of unrest on election night and the days following, similar to what took place in June when people looted Macy's and a few Soho stores.

Soho's more expensive shops were especially targeted. Windows were shattered and their inventory was looted.

Seeing shops boarding up their storefronts now is alarming to a lot of New Yorkers because it gives off the impression they're are bracing for one particular outcome, but the New York Post says the NYPD advised businesses in the last week in these areas to take extra precautions.

The NYPD also has its rapid deployment unit—trained for civil unrest and other bad situations—with about 600 officers, standing by, The Post says.

“We aren’t against peaceful protests,” Deputy Chief John J. D’Adamo said. “The last thing we want to do is make arrests. We want people to be able to scream at the top of their lungs about whatever they want — and we also want them to finish what they have to do safely and get home safely.

“I want our officers to get home safely, too.”

Mayor Bill de Blasio warned people during his Monday press briefing that we may not know the election results on the night of the election or even the following day, but whatever happens, New Yorkers should express their opinions in a peaceful manner.

"I want folks to know this city is prepared for those who want to express themselves about the results the right way to do that is peacefully. That is always honored," he said.  

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Want to know what’s cool in the city before your friends do? Sign up to our newsletter for the latest and greatest from NYC and beyond.