As the first day of polling stations closed for early voting in New York City’s local elections, turnout figures doubled from the same figure four years ago. According to data from the NYC Board of Elections, more than 30,000 New Yorkers have already expressed their favorite in the Democratic primary. In 2021, there had been 16,687.
This is the breakdown by boroughs: more than 10,000 have already voted in Manhattan, more than 10,000 in Brooklyn, nearly 6,500 in Queens, 2,698 in the Bronx, and 1,138 in Staten Island.
It is still too early to determine the total voter turnout, but interest seems very high. Another confirmation was the TV ratings data of the debates, which reached almost 50% more people than in 2021.
Out of 8 million New York residents, about 5 million people have active registrations, according to state data. Of those, only 1 million voted in the Democratic primary in 2021 and 1.1 million participated in the November general election.
Polling sites will remain open each day from 9 to 5—with some changes available here—until June 22. There are several sites available for each precinct. The official primary day is June 24. The winning candidate will go head-to-head with incumbent Eric Adams, who is running as an independent. Andrew Cuomo has also formed a new party on paper in order to run as an independent as well should he fail to clinch the Democratic nomination. The general election is Nov. 4.
There are 11 candidates in the Democratic primary this year, although only seven have met the Campaign Finance Board’s fundraising requirements to be considered “leading contenders” in order to qualify. Andrew Cuomo leads Zohran Mamdani and Brad Lander, who have declared their support for each other in an attempt to overtake the front-runner. They follow with less than 10 percentage points in the polls Adrienne Adams, Whitney Tilson, Scott Stringer, and Zelinor Myrie.
