STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. — In the lead up to the mayoral election, some students at Staten Island Technical High School have been having lunch outside, under a tent — to make room for early voters in the cafeteria.

But al fresco dining wasn’t an option Tuesday.

“Obviously we don't blame the Board of Elections and the DOE for this, it's a great alternative — but obviously it's not perfect,” Eve Kogan, a student and the executive vice president of the school’s student organization, said.

Part of the tent buckled sometime Monday night, as a Nor’easter dumped rain on the city.

For Eve, along with Ethan Halevi, the president of the school’s student organization, the collapse just highlights the burden early voting has placed on schools like theirs, which now host voters for not just a day, but two weeks.

That’s especially challenging during the pandemic — when space is already in short supply due to social distancing.

“Today we couldn't even have lunch outside because the tent was broken, so we all had to go in the auditorium and the social distancing was a little bit harder to maintain, especially when you're waiting in a hallway on line for lunch and there's a whole bunch of people grouped together,” Eve said.

It’s not just lunch — the cafeteria also hosts student clubs and gives kids a chance to socialize after a tough two years.

“We have years of students that have been robbed of the high school experience, and we're here now. And it's being taken from them again and it's just disappointing,” Ethan said.

Eve and Ethan — both elected by their peers at school — say they support early voting. But they think it should happen somewhere else.

"As elected officials of staten island technical high school, we're imploring our elected officials of New York City to help us figure out a solution that doesn't involve, necessarily, schools as early voting sites,” Ethan said.

The Education Department agrees with that sentiment — in an October 12 letter they asked the Board of Elections to find alternative sites for early voting, and even offered to cover costs for moving to the new locations.

“The health and safety of our school communities is our first priority, and we worked with every school hosting an early voting location to keep voters isolated from students and staff and meet the unique space needs of each school this week. At Staten Island Tech we added fencing and outdoor tents, tables, and chairs to accommodate outdoor meals,” DOE spokesman Nathaniel Steyer said.

"In an effort to make Early voting accessible to the voters of the City of New York, the Board has increased the number of Early voting sites to 106 sites. Of the 106 sites, 24 are in schools. We welcome the administration's assistance in securing additional sites and thank institutions like the Brooklyn Musuem, the Museum of the Moving Image and others who are committed to servicing the voters in their community," Board of Elections spokeswoman Valerie Diaz said in a statement.

The Education Department says they're working with each school hosting voters to meet their space needs, and keep students separate from voters. As for the tent, they say it'll be fixed and ready for lunch on Wednesday.

In a statement, Board of Elections spokeswoman Valerie Diaz said, "In an effort to make Early voting accessible to the voters of the City of New York, the Board has increased the number of Early voting sites to 106 sites. Of the 106 sites, 24 are in schools. We welcome the administration's assistance in securing additional sites and thank institutions like the Brooklyn Musuem, the Museum of the Moving Image and others who are committed to servicing the voters in their community."