New Yorkers are heading to the polls Tuesday to vote in local elections — including the hotly-contested Democratic primary for mayor — bracing a heat wave that’s projected to drive the mercury to at least 100.
As of 9 a.m., nearly 99,000 New Yorkers had voted Tuesday, according to returns released by the Board of Elections. That’s in addition to more than 380,000 New Yorkers who cast ballots during last week’s early voting period, more than twice the number who participated in early voting during the 2021 primaries for mayor and other local offices.
In total, just over 1 million New Yorkers voted in the 2021 primaries.
Based on the early numbers from the BOE, the 2025 turnout could exceed the 2021 levels.
The top item on Tuesday’s ballot is the Democratic mayoral primary, which has turned into a two-man race between ex-Gov. Andrew Cuomo and Queens Assemblyman Zohran Mamdani.
In Brooklyn’s Prospect Heights neighborhood, a steady rush of voters streamed into PS9 to cast their ballots Tuesday morning, even as the temperatures began climbing into the 90s.
Several local residents said the voting was smooth and quick at PS9, with few, if any lines, though it was crushingly hot inside with no air conditioning and few fans.
Alina, a 59-year-old media worker who didn’t want to give her last name, aid she kept Cuomo entirely off her ballot even though she said she believes he “could lead the city and do a good job.”
“I just have great difficulty in the way he has gone after the 13 women that made accusations against him instead of ever coming out and just being honest whether something happened or didn’t happen,” said Alina, who ranked Mamdani and City Comptroller Brad Lander at the top of her mayoral ballot.
“It’s an old school mentality that we don’t need anymore, it’s the older, white male control kind of — enough.”
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Zohran Mamdani and Andrew Cuomo. (Getty)
Cuomo showed up at the High School of Art and Design in Midtown Manhattan around 11 a.m. to cast his ballot. He walked up to the polling site with two of his daughters, carrying a bottle of water and urging voters to hydrate plenty amid the soaring temperatures.
After leading in most polls, a new survey released this week showed Cuomo losing to Mamdani after eight rounds of ranked choice voting. But the ex-gov dismissed those findings.
“Emerson is an outlier,” said Cuomo.
Voters at the polling site greeted Cuomo warmly.
Pamela and Jeff Lieberman, who came to polling site to vote for Cuomo with their three dogs, said they will likely move out of New York City if Mamdani wins.
“I think it’s going to be devastating for small business which is what I have,” said Pamela Lieberman, a physical therapist.
Her husband agreed and said in reference to Mamdani’s proposal to increase taxes on millionaires and corporations: “We have enough taxes in New York.”
At P.S. 81 in Brooklyn, Alexis Haut, 39, a podcast producer in Bed-Stuy, said she cast her ballot for Mamdani, followed by Lander.
“I feel like there’s more energy around the primary than there has been in the past.”
“I’ve lived in the state for like, 15 years, long as well. Yeah, I just think we need something different, and then I don’t want to see Cuomo back in office.”
Timothy Amsterdam, 76, a retiree also in Bed-Stuy, said he cast his vote for Cuomo.
“I like Andrew Cuomo. As a governor, he did a very good job,” he said, adding that he had also ranked Adrienne Adams and Scott Stringer.
Polls are open citywide Tuesday until 9 p.m.
The Board of Elections is expected to release the results of the first round of voting shortly after polls close. However, the board won’t start tabulating the ranked choices until next week, meaning New Yorkers likely won’t know who their next mayor will be until then.
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