NYC Goes To The Polls Amid Record Heat [VIDEO]

Gothamist reports:

Grab a Gatorade and get ready to cast your ballot. Polls are open from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m. Tuesday for New York City’s primary election. The forecast heading into Election Day called for a high of 102 degrees.

Registered Democrats in the five boroughs will be voting to nominate their candidates for mayor, city comptroller, public advocate, borough president and, depending on where they live, City Council. The only citywide Republican primary contest is for city comptroller.

So far, early voting turnout has more than roughly doubled the 2021 mayoral primary. If that pace continues, you can expect lines at poll sites, especially during the morning and evening rush hours. The city is advising people to stay hydrated and avoid prolonged exposure to the heat.

The Associated Press reports:

While preliminary returns will be released after the polls close at 9 p.m. Tuesday, a winner might not emerge for a week because of the city’s ranked choice voting system, which allows voters to list up to five candidates in order of preference. If a candidate is the first choice of a majority of voters, they win outright. If no candidate reaches that threshold, the tabulation of the rankings wouldn’t begin until July 1.

The primary winner will go on to face incumbent Mayor Eric Adams, a Democrat who decided to run as an independent amid a public uproar over his indictment on corruption charges and the subsequent abandonment of the case by Trump’s Justice Department. Republican Curtis Sliwa, the founder of the Guardian Angels, will be on the ballot in the fall’s general election.

An Emerson College poll released yesterday showed Mamdani with a four-point lead in the eighth round of ranked vote tabulating. Also yesterday, Gothamist reported that 25% of this year’s early voters had not voted in the last several mayoral primaries, something they say bodes well for Mamdani.