New York City’s off-cycle primary election is drawing low-numbers of voters to polls — with some notable exceptions.
Altogether, the New York City Board of Elections recorded nearly 60,000 votes as of Sunday, which includes ballots cast during the nine days of early voting that began June 17 and ended June 25, as well as the absentee ballots that were received and canvassed as of this past Saturday.
Using voter data provided by the city’s Board of Elections, Gothamist mapped voter turnout so far in New York City, where every borough with the exception of Staten Island has ongoing races. While not every City Council race has a primary, the map reflects turnout by Council district, where people may also be voting in the Queens or Bronx district attorney primaries, or the judicial and party primaries in other boroughs.
Harlem voters are leading the rest of the city when it comes to turnout so far.
The race to succeed Councilmember Kristin Richardson Jordan for the 9th District is drawing the highest turnout as Democratic voters are choosing between Assembly members Inez Dickens and Al Taylor, as well as criminal justice advocate Yusef Salaam. So far, 3,889 ballots have been cast there.
The race is one of the most competitive this primary cycle, where two of the candidates — Taylor and Salaam — are trying to make the most of ranked-choice voting by endorsing each other.
Meanwhile, Dickens picked up support from Mayor Eric Adams, who is no fan of the voter-approved ranking system.
The Council district with the next highest turnout is in the Bronx, in Council District 12, which includes parts of neighborhoods in the Northern Bronx including Wakefield, Baychester, Eastchester, Edenwald, Williamsbridge and Co-op City. In that race, incumbent Democrat Kevin Riley faces a challenge from Pamela Hamilton-Johnson and Aisha Hernandez Ahmed.
Democrats in the Bronx also have a district attorney contest borough-wide that may be contributing to the turnout in that area.
The next two districts with the highest turnout so far are both in lower Manhattan.
In Council District 1, incumbent Democrat Christopher Marte is facing three challengers: Pooi Stewart, Susan Lee and Ursila Jung. In this race, Lee and Jung cross-endorsed each other, a tactic utilized in the mayoral primary by candidates Kathryn Garcia and Andrew Yang during the first citywide primary with ranked choice voting. In Council District 2, incumbent Democrat Carlina Rivera is facing a challenge from local filmmaker Allie Ryan.
There is also a primary for civil court judge in Manhattan’s 1st Municipal Court district that overlaps with these Council districts, which may also be contributing to turnout in these areas.
Keep in mind, this turnout data is a snapshot in time. These numbers reflect data from the city Board of Elections as of Sunday night, after polls closed for early voting.
