By Michelle Castillo

Barbara Glassman took a look around to make sure no potential voters were coming her way and then quickly glanced at her feet to make sure she was 100 feet from P.S. 125, one of the voting locations in Woodside.

“I put my toe over the line, and one of the volunteers for the opposing campaign went and told on me,” she said, chuckling at the ridiculousness. “I feel like I’m at a bowling tournament.”

The campaign volunteer for Deirdre Feerick, one of the Democrats running for City Council for New York District 26, had been up since 4 a.m. encouraging voters to pick her candidate. Though few people seemed interested in her fliers, Glassman maintained her energy up as she handed out the campaign material outside the same junior high school she had attended as a young teenager.

Yesterday’s citywide election was important to District 26, where Feerick, James “Jimmy” Van Bramer, and Brian O’Leary were hotly contesting who would represent the Democratic Party in the November general election. Polling officials said it was still too close to call by late afternoon, although they hoped to have some indication shortly after polls closed at 9 p.m.

This election meant a lot to Glassman, a Woodside resident since 1944. The retired schoolteacher has been active in Democratic politics since her youth, and after seeing many of the debates this summer she decided to put all her efforts into supporting Feerick.

“She is really from here,” Glassman said. “You can be from here and not be in tune with the community. She gets what we need.”

As her eyes scanned the street once more for people, Glassman fixed her gaze on a woman who had been stopped by a volunteer from Van Bramer’s camp. Glassman’s rival explained that Van Bramer worked as the chief external affairs officer of the Queens Public Library. The woman voter replied that she had never seen Van Bramer at the library.

Unabashed, Glassman swooped in and pushed Feerick’s pamphlet into the woman’s hand, saying, “You won’t see him in the library. She is a better candidate.”

Volunteer Barbara Glassman tries to convince potential voters to support Deirdre Feerick. (Above)