I went to a protest in Washington Heights that initially I thought was going to have very

few people.

But instead there were thousands of people there just with signs out, with music, you know,

horns blaring.

And it's unlike anything I've ever seen before, you know, to me being there in the street

it almost felt like I was in the Dominican Day Parade.

Except that people were not celebrating being Dominican.

Instead they were defending their democracy.

From Futuro Media, it's Latino USA.

I'm Maria Inojosa.

Traditionally, February is carnival season in the Dominican Republic.

It's a time when people wear colorful masks like the Diablo Cajuelo or a Rovala gallina costume

and they take to the streets to celebrate across the nation.

But this year, Dominicans have been taking to the streets for a different reason.

On Sunday, February 16th, people in the DR headed to the voting booth as the nation held

municipal elections.

But three to four hours after voting began, the Central Electoral Board abruptly canceled

the elections, citing issues with the voting machines.

The DR spent millions of dollars on these new electronic voting machines and started

using them in a presidential primary race that began in October.

But on the day of the municipal election, just a few weeks ago, people began reporting

that some candidates' names were missing from the ballots.

...