Voters in New York City headed to the polls on Tuesday morning in relatively modest numbers, according to unofficial numbers from the Board of Elections — affirming what observers predicted would be a low-turnout election with all City Council seats on the ballot.
More than 217,000 residents had checked into polling sites by noon Tuesday, per early numbers. More than a third were voters who cast their ballots before Election Day, a lackluster early voting tally about five times smaller than in last year’s general election.
Several Council races in Brooklyn and Queens are expected to be decided by thin margins. Voters’ low attendance at the polls so far has been partly attributed to the absence of large statewide and national races this year.
“The Democrats don’t go out and vote,” said 58-year-old Loretta Tayar, a Bay Ridge resident who voted for Democratic Councilmember Justin Brannan in his southern Brooklyn race. “That’s why every race here — with [Rep.] Nicole Malliotakis and all of them — it’s a very down-to-the-wire kind of race. Because even though the neighborhood here in Bay Ridge is actually more Democratic, the Republican leadership can get their people out and they vote.”
Following redistricting, Brannan is competing in the 47th District against Republican Councilmember Ari Kagan, a former Democrat with whom Brannan has publicly feuded in the runup to the election. Like the neighboring 43rd District to the north, the 47th has more registered Democrats than Republicans, though that baseline advantage has become tenuous as Republicans have gained ground in southern Brooklyn.
Gloria Falcon, a 65-year-old teacher who voted for Kagan and immigrated from the former Soviet Union, said she was frustrated with Democratic policies toward recent immigrants. “My friends had to get here with such difficulty,” she said. “And we always worked for ourselves. We never asked for money.”
A new political dynamic has also emerged in the 43rd District, which is home to an electorate that is predominantly Asian American and boasts one of the city's largest concentrations of Chinese residents. A third of voters in the district are unaffiliated with either party — bolstering the belief that the district is strongly in play.
Democrat Susan Zhuang and Republican Ying Tan have both built their respective campaigns around public safety and education issues, which they say resonate deeply with local voters. Vito LaBella, the Conservative Party candidate, has espoused similar messages.
“My safety and education, that’s more important than everything,” said Angel Zhao, a Bensonhurst resident who voted for Zhuang, who is state Assemblymember William Colton's chief of staff. “Usually I vote for the Republican, but for her, we only choose her. She’s the best one.”
Nelson Leung said that although he voted for Democrats for the past 20 years, he voted for Tan, the Republican candidate, in this year’s election because he disapproves of how the Democrat-led city is handling crime, homelessness and newly arrived migrants.
Meanwhile, Abe Schwartz, a 77-year-old Bensonhurst resident and military veteran who identified himself as a Democrat who votes Republican, said it was important to vote regardless of one’s own party affiliation.
“People died so people could walk into the door,” he said. “Politicians are like diapers. They’re full of s--- and have to be changed often.”
