22 THE QUEENS COURIER • JUNE 24, 2021 FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT WWW.QNS.COM
Polls close in Queens as voters wait
BY ANGÉLICA ACEVEDO & ZACHARY
GEWELB
editorial@qns.com
@QNS
Th e polls in Queens are offi cially closed
on Election Day.
Voting sites across the borough have
closed Tuesday, June 22, as of 9 p.m.,
marking the end of the primary elections.
According to the city’s Board of Elections
(BOE), more than 35,000 Queens residents
— approximately 1.6 percent of
the borough’s population — took advantage
of early voting, which took place
from June 12 to 20, representing about 18
percent of all the early votes cast in New
York City.
But Queens had the most absentee
ballots requested of any borough, with
more than 66,000 requested and more
than 23,000 completed ahead of Tuesday,
according to the BOE.
In-person voter turnout on Tuesday
seemed relatively low throughout most
of the day in polling sites across the borough.
However, a worker at a polling
site in Rochdale Village at P.S. 80 was
impressed to see their turnout Tuesday
morning, telling QNS they didn’t “expect
this many people.”
In Astoria, two City Council candidates
and a comptroller candidate continued
campaigning near the P.S. 122 polling site,
saying they were full of energy and ready
to continue talking with potential voters.
Many Queens voters shared their
thoughts about this year’s election process
with QNS. Most seemed to understand
the newly implemented rankedchoice
voting system.
Nicholas Seotchie, a Bayside resident
who cast his vote at Bayside High School
Tuesday aft ernoon, argued that electoral
reform has been an ongoing issue in the
U.S. and said he supports ranked-choice
voting, noting that some states and cities
already implemented the system.
“I think I was suffi ciently educated
on how to use it and the process went
smoothly,” Seotchie said.
But there were some Queens voters who
were still skeptical about the new process,
with others confused about how to use it.
Nikki Breedlove, who voted at the
Rochdale Village Community Center, said
she thinks ranked-choice voting “disenfranchises”
the Black and brown communities.
“Blacks and browns don’t turn out
the same way to vote like other areas,”
Breedlove said. “Th en what happens? We
are the ones that suff er and it’s not the
other communities and that’s terrible. We
do vote, but we don’t vote in primaries
and we don’t vote when need to vote and
that hurts us.”
But the new voting system has been
found to not only benefi t those communities
in particular, but also elevate candidates
who are of color and who are
women, according to FairVote.org.
Although offi cial results won’t be fi nalized
until July 12, below you will fi nd
the preliminary results from the city’s
Board of Elections for Queens borough
president and local City Council races
as of approximately 8 a.m. Wednesday
morning.
For updates on the citywide races,
including mayor, comptroller and public
advocate, visit PoliticsNY.com.
Queens borough president
DEMOCRATIC CANDIDATES (95.45
percent of precincts reported):
Elizabeth Crowley: 40.20 percent of the
vote (62,738 votes)
Donovan Richards (incumbent): 41.53
percent of the vote (64,814 votes)
Jimmy Van Bramer: 17.82 percent of
the vote (27,813 votes)
City Council District 19
DEMOCRATIC CANDIDATES (99
percent of precincts reported):
Tony Avella: 37.10 percent of the vote
(3,883 votes)
Adriana Aviles: 8.46 percent of the vote
(885 votes)
Nabaraj KC: 1.46 percent of the vote
(153 votes)
Austin Shafran: 20.03 percent of the
vote (2,096 votes)
Richard J. Lee: 29.90 percent of the vote
(3,129 votes)
Francis E. Spangenberg: 2.53 percent
of the vote (265 votes)
REPUBLICAN CANDIDATES (99 percent
of the precincts reported):
John-Alexander Sakelos: 45.96 percent
of the vote (1,446 votes)
Vickie Paladino: 52.70 percent of the
vote (1,658 votes)
City Council District 20
DEMOCRATIC CANDIDATES (97.53
percent of the precincts reported):
Hailing Chen: 15.32 percent of the vote
(1,265 votes)
John Choe: 16.56 percent of vote (1,367
votes)
Anthony Miranda: 15.32 percent of the
vote (1,265 votes)
Sandra Ung: 24.28 percent of the vote
(2,004 votes)
Neng Wang: 1,237 percent of the vote
(1,237 votes)
Ming-Kang Low: 0.45 percent of the
vote (37 votes)
Dao Yin: 5.14 percent of the vote (424
votes)
Ellen Young: 16.39 percent of the vote
(1,378 votes)
City Council District 21
DEMOCRATIC CANDIDATES (82.86
percent of precincts reported):
David Aiken Jr.: 16.43 percent of the
vote (844 votes)
Ingrid Gomez: 18.55 percent of the
vote (953 votes)
Francisco Moya (incumbent): 52.16
percent of the vote (2,680 votes)
George Onuorah: 6.01 percent of the
vote (309 votes)
Talea Wufk a: 6.34 percent of the vote
(326 votes)
City Council District 22
DEMOCRATIC CANDIDATES (95.45
percent of the precincts reported):
Leonardo Bullaro: 7.29 percent of the
vote (1,011 votes)
Tiff any Cabán: 49.32 percent of the vote
(6,838 votes)
John J. Ciafone: 9.35 percent of the vote
(1,296 votes)
Catherina Gioino: 4.73 percent of the
vote (656 votes)
Evie Hantzopoulos: 26.26 percent of
the vote (3,641 votes)
Nicholas Velkov: 2.87 percent of the
vote (398 votes)
City Council District 23
DEMOCRATIC CANDIDATES (91.92
percent of precincts reported):
Steve Behar: 13.24 percent of the vote
(1,625 votes)
Jaslin Kaur: 26.37 percent of the vote
(3,327 votes)
Sanjeev Kumar Jindal: 9.34 percent of
the vote (1,146 votes)
Linda Lee: 31.20 percent of the vote
(3,829 votes)
Photo by Gabriele Holtermann
Voting stations at P.S. 166 in Astoria in the primary election on June 22.
Photo by Gabriele Holtermann
Voters line up to pick up their ballots on primary election day at P.S. 234 in Astoria.
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