BROOKLYNITES
Locals cast their mayoral ballots during early voting
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COURIER L 6 IFE, JUNE 18-24, 2021
BY KEVIN DUGGAN
New York City voters came
out to cast their ballots for the
city’s next mayor and many
other local elected offi ces during
the fi rst weekend of early
voting.
In Red Hook, Brooklyn, local
Bridgette Defreitas was
among a trickle of voters at
the poll site inside the Red
Hook Recreation Center on
Bay Street Sunday morning.
“If you don’t vote and exercise
that right, then how do
you get what you need done
in your community, or just
in general in the city” Defreitas
told Brooklyn Paper’s sister
publication amNewYork
Metro. “In the height of the
pandemic, I voted.”
As a New York City Housing
Authority resident, Defreitas’s
major issues include
the upkeep of the city’s public
housing stock, crime, and
having a person of color such
as herself in offi ce, which led
her to rank Brooklyn Borough
President Eric Adams
as fi rst choice for mayor.
She still prefers to vote
in person, despite the city’s
Board of Elections allowing
all registered voters to mail
in absentee ballots during the
COVID-19 pandemic.
“Mail-in ballot is ok, but
for me, in person I get to see
and make those choices,” she
said. “I just like in-person,
it’s important to me that I be
here.”
Another Red Hook resident
said he ranked civil rights attorney
Maya Wiley fi rst for
mayor, followed by former
Sanitation Commissioner
Kathryn Garcia, saying Wiley’s
recent endorsement by
progressive Congresswoman
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez
(D–Bronx/Queens) cemented
his support for the former advisor
to Mayor Bill de Blasio.
“The AOC endorsement of
Maya Wiley pushed her number
one for me,” said Gabe
Salzer, who said his biggest
issues were housing, education,
and climate change.
Early voting for this year’s
primaries started on June
12 and runs through June
20, followed by Election Day
on Tuesday, June 22. Up for
a vote are the city’s mayor,
comptroller, public advocate,
borough presidents, most of
the city council seats, the
Manhattan District Attorney,
and several judges.
With most of the city covered
in solidly-blue districts,
the contests will be largely
decided in the Democratic
primaries.
The New York City Board
of Elections clocked a turnout
of 16,867 check-ins at voting
sites on Saturday, the fi rst
day of early voting — a low
number compared to the fi rst
day of early voting for the
2020 Presidential election last
fall, when almost 94,000 came
out to vote.
City and state election cycles
tend to draw far fewer vot-
ELECTION
DAY IS
JUNE 22
Catch up on all
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