We’re off to the races.
Saturday kicked off early voting in New York, and based on preliminary numbers for a single day of open polls, there seems to be excitement in NYC elections.
The NYC Board of Elections dropped the figures for the first day of early voting in the 2025 primary. According to data out Saturday evening, more than 30,000 New Yorkers went to the polls on June 14.
Compared to the same day four years earlier when voters were choosing between Democratic candidates Eric Adams, Kathryn Garcia, Maya Wiley, Andrew Yang and Scott Stringer.
This year’s field is markedly wider, with 11 Democrats on the primary ballot. Although polling leading up to voting suggests the race is between only a handful of candidates.
Now to the race for New York City’s next mayor. There are just 12 days to go until the Democratic primary—and the gap appears to be closing between the two apparent front-runners, Andrew Cuomo and Zohran Mamdani. This, as the candidates get ready to square off tonight in another debate. NBC News 4 New York’s Melissa Russo reports.
Here’s a breakdown of June 14 voting by borough:
Manhattan: 10,003
Bronx: 2,698
Brooklyn: 10,244
Queens: 6,470
Staten Island: 1,138
In total, 30,553 early voters were tallied. That figure is nearly double what was turned in during 2021: 16,687.
While it’s certainly too early to tell if this is an indicator of the turnout still to come, it does mirror an increase an interest seen in debate viewership numbers. The first primary debate held on June 4 and moderated by NBC NBC New York/Telemundo 47 and Politico saw a bump of 47%.
Across the five boroughs, roughly half of all New Yorkers are registered to vote. Of the eight million people in the city, less than 5 million have active registrations, according to state data. And of that total, only about 1 million voted in the 2021 primary and 1.1 million in the general election, the last time the mayor was up for vote.
Early voting runs from June 14 until June 22. Polling locations for early voting are often at different sites than on primary day (June 24).
Whoever wins the Democratic ticket will likely be in a head-to-head match with incumbent Mayor Eric Adams in November. The first-term mayor opted to skip the primary and run on the Independent ticket in the wake of scandal surrounding his criminal charges relating to alleged bribes from a foreign country and subject dismissal by President Donald Trump’s Department of Justice.
For more information on early voting, click here.
