Askonim: Boro Park Community is a Winner in This Election

By: Yehuda Alter  

With the dust not yet settled on the midterm election of 2022, local askonim point to unprecedented history that was made in the orthodox Jewish community in New York, and in particular in the Boro Park community. 

“As we have said all along; if we will come out in strong numbers to cast our vote, demonstrating that we are a force to be reckoned with, then our community will be winners,” said R’ Berl Lefkowitz, one of the askonim behind a massive get-out-the-vote campaign in Boro Park. “B’chasdei Hashem, we were successful.” 

To give a measure of the success, R’ Chaim Meir Markowitz, an askan behind this effort, points out that Boro Park saw its highest-ever voting numbers in 2020 (a presidential election), when it cast 13,000 votes. “In this election, we saw that number double, with close to 25,000 votes cast in the Boro Park community alone,” he said. 

Indeed, the lines told the story. In the week-or-so of early voting, one could see a steady stream of voters near FDR High School, and the lines were out the door on election day itself. 

A majority of Boro Parkers who voted wanted to see Lee Zeldin elected, as the numbers of votes tell us. But the askonim underscore that far more important than who wins is that we become known as a voting community that makes its voice heard. And, judging by this, we won big.  

Asked what he will be doing following the election, R’ Chaim Meir (who is always occupied with one cause or another) said: “We’re launching a massive voter registration drive, so we could double the numbers in the next election.”