AP Election Brief | What to expect in New York’s primaries
WASHINGTON (AP) — New York voters will choose candidates in local primary elections held across the state Tuesday.
In New York City, a contest featuring a member of the exonerated “Central Park Five” tops the list of 23 City Council primaries throughout the city. The Associated Press will also cover the reelection bids of the incumbent Democratic district attorneys in the Bronx and Queens as well as several mayoral primaries in Oneida and Westchester counties.
In central Harlem, three Democrats are facing off to replace 9th District City Council member Kristin Richardson Jordan, a first-term incumbent who announced in May she would not seek reelection after narrowly winning the seat in 2021. Vying to replace her are state Assembly members Inez Dickens and Al Taylor and criminal justice reform activist Yusef Salaam, who was one of five men convicted and later exonerated in the “Central Park Jogger” rape case.
As with all New York City Council races this year, this election will use a ranked choice voting system, in which voters may rank candidates in order of preference. If no candidate receives a majority of first-choice votes, the lowest vote-getter is dropped, with those votes reallocated to voters’ next-highest choices.
New York City Council terms are normally for four years, but because of a quirk in the New York City charter, the City Council races in 2021 and 2023 year are for two-year terms only. The election to four-year City Council terms will resume in 2025.
In the Bronx, incumbent District Attorney Darcel Clark seeks a third term. She faces a challenge from criminal defense and civil rights attorney Tess Cohen. In Queens, incumbent Melinda Katz seeks a second term as district attorney. The three-way primary also includes public defender Devian Daniels and former judge and former deputy police commissioner George Grasso. Both Clark and Katz are the first women to hold those positions.
As an off-year primary election, turnout is expected to be low.
Here’s a look at what to expect on election night:
ELECTION DAY
Polls close at 9 p.m. ET.
HOW NEW YORK VOTES
New York has a closed primary system. Registered party members may only vote in their own party’s primary.
The AP will declare winners in 32 primary races: 23 for New York City Council, 2 for district attorney in the Bronx and Queens, and 7 mayoral races in Oneida and Westchester counties. The City Council races will use a ranked choice voting system if no candidate receives more than 50% of the total vote. The district attorney and mayoral races will not use ranked choice voting.
First results are expected a few minutes after polls close, mostly from early and absentee votes processed and tabulated in advance. In the 2022 general election, election-night updates concluded shortly before 3 a.m. ET, and at least 97% of votes were tabulated by noon the next day.
DECISION NOTES
The AP does not make projections and will only declare a winner when it’s determined there is no scenario that would allow the trailing candidates to close the gap.
Should a candidate declare victory or offer a concession before the AP calls a race, we will cover newsworthy developments in our reporting. In doing so, we will make clear that the AP has not yet declared a winner and explain why.
The biggest potential delay in reporting final winners on Tuesday will be the use of ranked choice voting in the 13 New York City Council primaries that have more than two candidates. (Races with only two candidates can’t go to ranked choice voting.) The AP will either call winners in races where a candidate has received more than 50% of the vote or declare that no candidate has received a majority and that the ranked choice voting process has been triggered. The city will release complete ranked choice voting results approximately 10 days after Election Day.
Q: HOW LONG DOES COUNTING USUALLY TAKE?
In the 2022 general election, New York counted less than 3% of votes after noon on the Wednesday after election day. Some counties took an additional 10 days to complete their counts.
In Tuesday’s election, mail-in ballots can arrive as late as July 4, if they are postmarked by election day.
READ UP ON THE RACES
Once wrongly imprisoned for notorious rape, member of ‘Central Park Five’ is running for office
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