The city’s Board of Elections tracked just under 10,000 ballots cast during the Big Apple’s first weekend of early voting, setting the stage for an anticipated low turnout election.
Data tracked between Saturday and Sunday show just 9,646 early votes were cast during the first two days of early voting across four boroughs excluding Staten Island – which has no primary races this cycle.
As of 5:30 PM Sunday, June 18, the city’s BOE tallied 3,005 early votes in Queens, 2,607 in Brooklyn, 2,432 in Manhattan and 1,602 in The Bronx.
The election is set to be held Tuesday, June 27.
All city races are subject to rank choice voting, except the two competitive primaries for district attorneys races in Queens and The Bronx, which are governed by state law.
Last year’s BOE tallies over the show period tracked just over 17,000 ballots cast over the same time period, when city voters went to the polls for a much wider slate of races including statewide gubernatorial, lieutenant governor, attorney general and comptroller primaries as well as congressional, state senate, assembly and state supreme court judgeship races.
In 2021, the same two day figure was higher at just over 32,000 ballots cast by primary voters in the mayoral and city council council primaries, per BOE records.
This year’s contests are anticipated to attract even lower turnout, experts say, as most incumbent councilmembers are running for their seats a second time in two years thanks to redistricting.
“It tells you that New York City is not the voting capital of the world. Why would they turn out for an election in June when it’s not a high interest election,” said longtime Democratic political consultant Hank Sheinkopf.
“Most of the races are not contested and it’s in the interest of the incumbents that no one turnout because then they’ll be reelected.”
Staten Islanders on both sides of the aisle for example, don’t have a primary election to vote in, as neither the Democratic District Attorney Michael McMahon, nor the borough’s three City Council incumbents – Democrat Kamillah Hanks, GOP Minority Leader Joe Borelli or Republican David Carr – are facing challengers.
Several races have attracted eyeballs, such as Harlem’s council primary for District 9.
Incumbent Kristin Richardson Jordan, a democratic socialist, announced she won’t commit to another two years, leaving an active three-way Democratic primary between current Assemblywoman Inez Dickens, Assemblyman Al Taylor and exonerated Central Park 5 candidate, Yusef Salaam.
In the GOP primary for Brooklyn’s District 47, Councilman Ari Kagan is seen as the favorite, netting an endorsement from ex-Republican mayoral candidate and Guardian Angel Curtis Sliwa over the weekend.
If victorious, he’ll face Democratic Councilman Justin Brannan in November’s general election as the two colleagues were redistricted into the same seat.
Other races to watch out for include the newly created, majority Asian District 43 in southern Brooklyn and Manhattan’s downtown District 1 race currently represented by Councilman Christopher Marte.