The process of voting is nearly complete, with only the crucial stage of counting the votes yet to be concluded. Indeed, before the counting commences, the voters must show up to do their civic duty. According to the Citizens Union Foundation, polling stations across New York City will accommodate voters from early in the morning at 6 a.m. until late in the evening, precisely 9 p.m. A noteworthy detail they outlined: if a voter is present in the queue at the designated closing time of 9 p.m., he or she will retain the right to participate in the vote.
Anticipating wait times, the NYC Board of Elections has candidly warned voters to prepare for queues. In fact, estimates suggest the lines might be more substantial than those witnessed during last year’s election in 2020. That particular year, a staggering number of 660,000 New Yorkers utilized mail-in ballots to cast their votes, an unusually elevated figure due to the circumstances propagated by the pandemic.
Ben Weinberg, the public policy director for Citizens Union, a nonpartisan entity championing governmental accountability and transparency, has suggested a decrease in the utilization of mail-in ballots for this year. Consequently, such a shift is speculated to result in more extended lines at polling places. Meanwhile, the Board of Elections is planning to maintain an interactive map to aid voters by displaying waiting times at different polling stations during the day.
Given these circumstances, New York City residents are advised to allocate extra time for voting. Interestingly, approximately 1.1 million voters in New York City will be spared from these queues as they have opted for early voting since October 26. As per the records, Sunday was the busiest early-voting day across the past three elections since New York allowed ballots to be cast before the designated Election Day, starting from 2020.
Regarding the division of early voters, Brooklyn exhibited the largest number of early voters this year, with a total of 345,840 ballots cast ahead of Election Day. Interestingly, in terms of the highest turnout relative to registered voters, Staten Island takes the lead with a turnout percentage of 26.9 percent. Notably, nearly 92,000 voters in Staten Island participated in early voting.
The borough of Manhattan also saw a significant number of early voters, with the count reaching 282,533. In the Bronx, the number of early ballots totaled 113,955, while Queens recorded 255,102 early votes. However, overall, the city’s count of early votes saw a slight reduction, with approximately 30,000 fewer votes compared to four years ago, to be exact, a difference of 29,728 votes.
In addition to the selection of management and representatives, voters also have several pressing ballot questions to address. These include five city-specific questions and a statewide query intended to safeguard reproductive rights. Remarkably, these five citywide proposals are embroiled in a fight for influence under the heavy cloud of federal indictments and investigations.
Critics of the proposals argue that they have the potential to diminish the power of some key figures. A collective named No Power Grab NYC has taken the initiative to challenge these measures publicly. The group, in an effort to stimulate a fair democratic process, has been active in organizing rallies against the propositions and has led multiple voter engagement activities.
In support of this cause, another group, New Yorkers Defending Democracy, has not hesitated to put forth significant resources. Their effort to counteract the five proposals has led them to pour more than $150,000 into measures intended to deter the contentious changes.