NEW YORK — Primary Day in New York City kicked off Tuesday with more of a whimper than a bang.
Voter turnout appeared to be anemic across the five boroughs, with the rainy weather dampening New Yorkers’ enthusiasm to head to the polls and take part in the first ranked-choice election for mayor.
Things picked up a little by mid-afternoon at Public School 9 in Prospect Heights, Brooklyn, where a short line stretched out the door as the storm passed through.
Duke Saunders, a real estate agent, blamed the low turnout on the pandemic.
“(Turnout) is low because of what we are still in, which is COVID-19,” he said. “And the weather’s not really helping.”
Mayor Bill de Blasio pleaded with voters earlier in the morning to “get in the game,” as early voting and mail-in voting numbers show a dramatically lower turnout compared with last year’s momentous presidential election.
“We got to see people get out and make their choices known,” he said.
The mayor cast his own vote at the Park Slope Library in the afternoon, noting that he landed on his five candidates just moments before arriving at the polling site.
He refused to reveal who was his No. 1 pick, saying to a reporter, “I’m not telling you, brother.”
There were no lines as Rachel Weiss walked right into Public School 22 in Crown Heights to vote. The 32-year-old librarian was confident about her top choices but was a little concerned about filling in the bubbles on the ballot properly.
“The only thing is, like, hopefully I filled them all in correctly,” Weiss said with a laugh.
In Washington Heights, voters trickled in and out of Fort Washington Collegiate Church to cast ballots. Some relished the options offered by the new voting system, which allows voters to rank their top five candidates in order of preference.
Jeffrey Roth, 31, ranked de Blasio legal counsel Maya Wiley as his first choice because “she’s the most progressive candidate.”
Roth, an actor, ranked city Comptroller Scott Stringer, nonprofit executive Dianne Morales and businessman Art Chang after Wiley.
“I think it’s great,” Roth said of the new system. “It’s a real positive thing.”
Zachary Tallman, 29, gushed about the new system, calling it “a breeze” after casting his ballot at P.S. 173 in Washington Heights.
“It’s a real luxury to be able to vote for multiple people,” Tallman said.
Others were still getting their bearings straight. Retired opera singer Bill Reynolds, 67, struggled to recall his No. 4 pick for mayor and couldn’t remember his No. 5 pick at all just minutes after leaving the upper Manhattan polling site.
People prepare to vote during the Primary Election Day at Public School 81 on June 22, in the Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood of Brooklyn.
People prepare to vote during the Primary Election Day at Public School 81 on June 22, in the Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood of Brooklyn. (Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images)
Retired TV producer Ernest Baker picked just one candidate for mayor when he voted at P.S. 175 in Harlem.
“It’s overrated,” Baker, 81, said of the new system.
Hyram Laurel, 56, who runs a senior center, didn’t want to reveal any of his top choices. But he did say it’s time for a progressive woman to lead the nation’s largest city.
“The men have been messing up this country way too many times,” the Harlem resident said.
Gail Berson, 80, ranked former city Sanitation Commissioner Kathryn Garcia as her first choice, then picked Scott Stringer and ex-housing secretary Shaun Donovan as No. 2 and 3 choices, respectively. She didn’t rank a fourth or fifth choice.
“I didn’t want to take a chance on anyone else,” she said at the Fort Washington Collegiate Church. “I like Kathryn Garcia because she knows how the city works. Stringer is a nerd and a nebbish, but he knows how the city works too.”
Berson, a retiree, did not rank Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams, who has emerged as a frontrunner in most polls, because “he’s a demagogue and a liar.”
“I wouldn’t be surprised if he spends most of his time in Fort Lee,” she said, referring to accusations that Adams lives in New Jersey. “He says what people want to hear.”
All the candidates were criss-crossing the city Tuesday as a last-ditch attempt to get their supporters to the polls, with events planned after the sites closed at 9 p.m.
The big question is how much anyone will know Tuesday night about the final tally.
Official results won’t be available until next week at the earliest when the last of the mail-in ballots must be received. Only then will officials start tallying voters’ lower choices as candidates are ruled out of the competition.
It’s possible one candidate may take a strong enough lead to claim likely victory, de Blasio said.
“We may know something in the next 24 hours,” the mayor said.
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