HITTING THE POLLS
COURIER LIFE, JUNE 18-24, 2021 7
ers with the 2017 mayoral race
yielding a 21.5 percent turnout,
compared to roughly 53.4
percent who voted for president
in 2020.
It is also the fi rst citywide
election using ranked choice
voting, which allows people to
rank up to fi ve candidates for
municipal elections. City voters
adopted the new system
by referendum in 2019 with an
overwhelming majority of 73.5
percent.
At a poll site at New York
City College of Technology
in Downtown Brooklyn, the
ranked voting debut received
mixed reactions.
“That is cool,” said Michael
Bradshaw, an Adams voter, of
ranked choice voting. “It’s easier,
it’s a simple situation.”
One Cobble Hill resident
said she supports the change,
but worried that it might confuse
some voters, especially
with the myriad of people
running for less-prominent
elected offi ces.
“It might be kind of intimidating
for a lot of people, especially
voting for councilmembers
that we know very little
about,” said Simona McCray,
who ranked Garcia as her
fi rst choice, followed by city
Comptroller Scott Stringer. “I
believe in ranked voting but
there could be a lot of errors
when you’re fi lling them out,
you could get confused.”
A Brooklyn Heights man
liked the large choice of candidates
to pick from, but added
that the city should have stuck
with the old system.
“One vote, one person,
one candidate,” said Arthur
Fisch, who was about to cast
a ballot for Adams. “I think
it’s absurd, I think it’s totally
stupid and I don’t know if anybody
knows how it’s going to
work and I think the way the
other way worked, we should
keep it.”
While many voters had different
opinions on who should
run the city over the coming
four years, everyone amNew-
York Metro spoke to agreed on
one thing: vote!
“We need to make good educated
choices about who we’re
voting for, why we’re voting
for them and hopefully in return
they will work for us,”
said Defreitas.
Clockwise from left: Gabe Salzer at his Red Hook polling site; Sandra
Bradshaw and her husband Michael voted at New York City College of
Technology in Downtown Brooklyn; Cobble Hill resident Simona McCray
outside her poll site in Downtown Brooklyn. Photos by Kevin Duggan