Village, SoHo residents cast votes in mayoral primary
BY KEVIN DUGGAN
New York City voters headed to
the polls to vote in the primaries
on Election Day, June 22, casting
their ballot for who will likely be the
next mayor along with several other local
political races.
In Downtown Manhattan, a trickle of
residents did their civic duty at their local
poll site in the basement of Church of
St. Anthony of Padua at the Greenwich
Village-SoHo border Tuesday morning
around 8 a.m.
Villager Juanita Gilmore said she preferred
coming out to perform her civic duty
on Election Day rather than vote early or
by mail.
“I like the drama of the Election Day
because it’s the day. It’s the day to do it
and there’s kind of an excitement about it,”
said Gilmore, just before she headed to the
voting booths.
Her pick for the city’s top job is Comptroller
Scott Stringer, who she said was
more qualifi ed than frontrunners Brooklyn
Borough President Eric Adams and
entrepreneur Andrew Yang.
“We’re coming out of a pandemic and
you need someone who knows and understands
the city and having the comptroller,
he understands and he knows,” she said.
“As much as I like the comments from
Yang and Adams, I fi nd them both quite
unqualifi ed.”
One area driving instructor said Adams
was his fi rst choice, due to the Brooklyn
Voters cast their ballots on Election Day, June 22, at the Church of St. Anthony
of Padua in Manhattan.
borough president’s life experience as
a former NYPD captain and his union
endorsements.
“I fi gured give him a chance,” said Glenn
Colson.
Almost 300,000 people already voted
before Tuesday, including 191,197 who
early voted from June 12-20 and 90,763
who returned their absentee ballots, according
to the city’s Board of Elections.
This election marks the citywide debut
Ranked Choice Voting, which allows voters
to rank up to fi ve candidates in order of
preference for the municipal races.
If a candidate gets more than 50% of
PHOTO BY KEVIN DUGGAN
fi rst-choice votes, they are automatically
the winner.
If no one earns more than half the votes,
BOE will continue counting in rounds and
at the end of each round, the person with
the fewest votes is eliminated, a process
that continues until there are only two
candidates left and the politician with the
most votes wins.
The new system and the large amount
of absentee ballots mean that it will take
weeks before the city knows who won the
elections.
BOE will release unoffi cial results of
only the fi rst ranks of in-person votes from
Election Day and early voting at the close
of the polls Tuesday night at 9 pm.
On June 29, the board will release preliminary
results including Ranked Choice
Voting tabulations for in-person voting,
followed by an updated tally with absentee
ballots on July 6.
BOE doesn’t expect the fi nal results until
some time around July 12, almost three
weeks from now.
The ranking met with mixed reviews in
Manhattan, where one SoHo resident said
he just voted for one person: Eric Adams.
“I refuse to do that, I didn’t do it,”
said Owen, who declined to give his last
name. “I don’t want to help someone else
get elected who I don’t think is the best
so why would I vote for them second or
third.”
A fellow SoHo resident also found it
complicated but liked trying something
new.
“It’s kind of tricky, it’s new, but I’m for
innovation,” said Cesar Vasquez.
Vasquez, who was about to head to the
poll booth, said he wasn’t sure yet who he’d
vote for and that he waited until the last
day to give him enough time to do his due
diligence.
“I usually make my decision when I walk
in there, but we need energy, somewhere
between old and young, somewhere in the
middle, we need the experience,” he said.
But the Manhattanite was sure of one
thing:
“I think New York always comes back,”
he said.
Final election results will not be known for weeks
BY ARIEL PACHECO
While the New York City primary
election has passed, the offi cial
results will not be in until the
anticipated date of July 12.
The initial preliminary unoffi cial results
released Tuesday night only included ballots
cast during early voting and on election
day. Absentee ballots will not be a part of
the initial tally.
The introduction of ranked-choice
voting (RCV) has created a new wrinkle
when it comes to the timeline. Only voters’
fi rst-choice will be counted immediately.
The Board of Elections (BOE) plans to
count the rest of the votes on June 29, but
those will also only include early voting and
election day ballots. The Campaign Finance
Board (CFB) is preaching patience.
“With Ranked Choice Voting, we will
be getting our results from the Board
of Elections in a new way,” said CFB
Spokesperson Matthew Sollars. “This will
A polling site on special election day in Far Rockaway, Queens, on Feb. 23.
take cooperation from everyone involved,
including the media and candidates, to
respect the counting process and to accurately
refl ect the unoffi cial nature of vote
PHOTO BY GABRIELE HOLTERMANN
tallies until the BOE declares an offi cial
winner.”
They also plan to release updates on the
absentee ballots one week after that on July
6. Complete results should be available by July
12, but there is no set date. An offi cial result
will be made when every vote is counted.
“Right now, we’re at a little over 80,000
absentee ballots,” said BOE Spokesperson
Valerie Vazquez.
As for the Republican mayoral primary,
the votes will be much easier to sort
through as there are only two candidates
running. The Republican winner should be
known by the end of tomorrow.
“While Ranked Choice Voting is new for
New York City voters, it has been used for
many years around the country,” said Sollars.
“The Board of Elections has developed
procedures for counting, tabulating, and
releasing the results that align with established
best practices. New Yorkers should
be confi dent that their primary votes will
count and be counted.”
Notably, both the Manhattan District
Attorney race and all judicial contests are
run through the state voting laws and do
not involve RCV.
Schneps Media June 24, 2021 3