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Here is the fruit of today's toils:

Getachew Kinfe went to PS 55, his polling station today, determined to do his part to ensure that Albert Baldeo, a candidate for the District 28 City Council seat, did not get elected.
“I am not interested in voting for anyone,” Kinfe, a native Ethiopian in his mid-50s, who lives in Richmond Hill, said. “I have no confidence in politicians. But I came here to vote against Baldeo. He’s one of the crude third world politicians that I wanted to leave back home.”
“You need a real interest in serving people,” Kinfe explained. “Baldeo makes his money in private business, and then he wants to fold in more power, more money, more everything through this.”
Kinfe, who was turned away without voting, because he had not declared a party affiliation while registering to vote, had settled on voting for Baldeo’s arch rival, pediatrician Robert Mahadeo.
Kinfe’s lack of confidence is mirrored this year by several voters in City Council District 28. Despite having one of the more colorful council races this year, many who bothered to turn up to vote in the primary lamented the lack of choice – between Baldeo and Mahadeo, who have both been to jail for threatening each other; the incumbent, Allan Jennings, who has been accused of sexual harassment, fined and stripped of committee responsibilities; Thomas White, Jr., a former District 28 Councilman who allegedly used taxpayers’ money meant for drug treatment programs for personal expenses, and who earned himself the title of the “Invisible Man” for not showing up at meetings; and Dhanpaul Narine, a little-known school teacher.
Gloria Ruiz, in her mid-40s, chose to go with Narine. “He said he’d be there for seniors,” she said. “I like that.” Ruiz, who, like Narine, Baldeo and Mahadeo, is from Guyana, said she was also more inclined towards Narine because he is from her neighborhood, and he is Guyanese.
“I’ve seen the news about Baldeo and Mahadeo,” she said. “I don’t think I trust them.” Jennings hasn’t fulfilled the promises he made during the last election, Ruiz said, and, not having lived in Queens during White’s term, didn’t know enough about him.
A voter at PS 55, who gave his name as John Smith, said he had cast his vote for Jennings. His reason? “You’ve got to vote for somebody. And I spoke to him when he came to Allan church. I haven’t spoken to any of the others.”
The result of this lack of confidence in the candidates is the low turnout at the polls this year, according to Sheryl Bishop and Joe Vidal, election coordinators at PS 50 and PS 55 respectively.
Voters trickled in to both polling stations, about two every 10 minutes, vastly outnumbered by bored poll workers, who numbered over 20 at each station.
“Turnout so far has been pretty close to mediocre,” Vidal pronounced about half way through the voting day. Having worked at various polls for 20 years, Vidal pointed out that people of Indian origin generally come out early in the morning, usually before 9 a.m. to cast their votes. He expressed surprise that the Guyanese, many of whom are of Indian origin, have not done so in District 28.
Bishop’s explanation: the turnout depends on who is running. “If it’s someone everyone likes, they’ll come out. Otherwise, they don’t show.”