Just a week before Election Day, the Board of Elections voted Tuesday to oust its own executive director, George Gonzalez.

Six commissioners voted in favor of the move. Four abstained, but no one voted against his ousting.

The BOE board vote seems to signal that election commissioners will not tolerate the mistakes and missteps that have dogged the board ever since Primary Day.

"We thank George for all of the years of service that he has provided to the New York City Board of Elections. He has been with us for 22 years and again, we appreciate it," said New York City Board of Elections President Julie Dent.

Gonzalez, a Democrat from the Bronx, was chosen for the position in August, although he has worked at the BOE for 23 years.

Asked by NY1 before the BOE meeting what he was expecting, Gonzalez said he did not know and would not know as soon as the station did. He has not made subsequent comment on being fired.

The BOE has not had a stellar image for some time, but its performance over the past few months has yielded some particularly harsh criticism.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg called this year's Primary Day a "royal screw-up" for the BOE. State Comptroller Tom DiNapoli released a scathing report last week detailing the mistakes.

The BOE has also come under fire for printing misleading instructions on paper ballots. It has been criticized for creating a ballot that appears specifically designed to hinder a candidate in a Queens City Council race. The city Department of Investigation is currently looking at that incident.

BOE officials assured New Yorkers on Tuesday that they are trying to make voting on Election Day a smoother process.

The mayor criticized Gonzalez personally in April, after amateur video caught the former BOE director breaking a city law by smoking at his desk.

"Until our elected leaders in Albany get serious about reforming the board so that the people running elections are hired based on merit, instead of political connections, we should expect more problems like the ones we've had, more failures like the ones we've had, more fingerpointing and more headache for voters," Bloomberg told reporters Tuesday.

While a permanent replacement has not yet been named for Gonzalez, the board says responsibilities of the Executive Director will be handled by Deputy Executive Director Dawn Sandow and Administrative Manager Pamela Green Perkins.

Perkins, the most senior Democrat on the board, is also the wife of State Senator Bill Perkins.