Clinton & Trump Win as NYC Voters Report Chaos & "Irregularities" at the Polls

On Tuesday, Republican Donald Trump and Democrat Hillary Clinton each scored decisive victories in New York, moving both candidates closer to becoming their respective parties’ presidential nominees. In the Republican race, Trump is poised to win 89 of the 95 delegates up for grabs. In the Democratic race, former New York Senator Hillary Clinton beat Senator Bernie Sanders by a margin of 58 to 42 percent. Sanders won the majority of counties in the state, but Clinton won big in the metropolitan New York area. We speak to former Manhattan Borough President Virginia Fields and economist Mark Weisbrot of the Center for Economic and Policy Research.
 

DONALD TRUMP: We don’t have much of a race anymore, based on what I’m seeing on television. Senator Cruz is just about mathematically eliminated. And we’ve won another state. As you know, we have won millions of more votes than Senator Cruz, millions and millions of more votes than Governor Kasich. We’ve won, and now, especially after tonight, close to 300 delegates more than Senator Cruz. We’re really, really rocking.

HILLARY CLINTON: And to all the people who supported Senator Sanders, I believe there is much more that unites us than divides us. ... You know, we started this race not far from here, on Roosevelt Island, pledging to build on the progressive tradition that’s done so much for America, from Franklin Roosevelt to Barack Obama. And tonight, little less than a year later, the race for the Democratic nomination is in the home stretch, and victory is in sight.

Additionally, Tuesday’s voting in the New York primary was marked by chaos, particularly in Brooklyn, as tens of thousands of voters found their names had been removed from the polling rolls or that they were unable to vote at their polling station. The New York City Elections Board has confirmed that more than 125,000 Brooklyn voters had been removed from the voter rolls since November 2015. There were also reports that polling staff were unable to operate voting machines, gave out conflicting information and erroneously directed voters to alternate sites. In a statement, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio said, "It has been reported to us from voters and voting rights monitors that the voting lists in Brooklyn contain numerous errors, including the purging of entire buildings and blocks of voters from the voting lists." We speak to Kristen Clarke, president and executive director of the national Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law.