When will we know more about results in NYC’s mayoral race?
Almost a week after election night in New York City’s Democratic mayoral primary, it remains unknown who the winner is.
But while little has changed in the six days since Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams took a healthy lead in first-choice votes, New Yorkers can expect the foggy picture to grow somewhat clearer on Tuesday.
As of last week, when in-person results first emerged, Adams had received 31.7% of the first-place vote, Maya Wiley had captured 22.3% and Kathryn Garcia had scored 19.5%.
The Board of Elections said it expects to release its first report of ranked-choice results on Tuesday, running the elimination rounds that pick a winner in the new system.
Valerie Vazquez-Diaz, a spokesperson for the Board of Elections, said on Monday morning that it wasn’t yet clear what time the new tables will be reported on Tuesday.
The winner of the primary will take on Curtis Sliwa, the Republican victor, in the general election.
For the latest numbers, take a look at the Daily News’ live 2021 NYC Primary Election Results Tracker.
Here’s what we do know about the official election results timeline, according to VOTE.NYC
June 29: Preliminary RCV round-by-round elimination will not include absentee and affidavit ballots (report 1) and the last day for the Board of Elections to receive an absentee ballot.
July 6: Preliminary RCV round-by-round elimination (report 2)
Eric Adams, Curtis Sliwa take the early lead in NYC’s mayoral race
The first slate of results — which will be calculated with digital software — is expected to reveal who won the race based on in-person ballots cast on Primary Day and in the early voting period. The results could still change when absentee votes are counted. (Those ballots can continue to stream in until Tuesday, and another release of results is expected on July 6 with some absentee votes.)
In the ranked-choice system, when the candidate with the fewest votes is knocked out, voters who selected him or her as their top choice have their second-choice votes distributed to the remaining hopefuls. The process repeats until only two contenders remain. At that point, the candidate with more votes wins.
Adams’ lead is generally thought to be sturdy enough to withstand vote redistribution in the elimination rounds, but Wiley and Garcia have both expressed confidence in their ability to make up ground.
Wiley, a former counsel to Mayor de Blasio, consolidated progressive support in the final days of the race. Garcia, a moderate and a former city sanitation commissioner, promised to take a problem solver’s attitude to City Hall.
Garcia performed strongly in Manhattan, beating Adams there, and her appeal to a wide swath of voters could boost her when secondary choices are counted. Her campaign released a memo last week outlining her possible path to a surprise victory.
“If Garcia wins a strong majority of Wiley in-person votes, RCV simulations based on recent polling suggest that Garcia could surpass Eric Adams,” Adam Rosenblatt, Garcia’s pollster, said in the memo.
Garcia campaigned with Andrew Yang, the polarizing former front-runner, during the final weekend of the campaign. Yang received 11.7% of the first-place vote in the Primary Day data dump.
According to exit poll data, 83% of voters selected at least two candidates and 42% used all five available slots. All told, 72% of voters picked at least three hopefuls, according to the data, which was reported by Common Cause/NY and Rank the Vote NYC.
The Democratic primary is widely expected to determine the next mayor in deep-blue New York City. The general election is set for Nov. 2.
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