Nyc Issues New Democratic Primary Results After Snafu Created Confusion
The New York City Board of Elections released new numbers from the Democratic primary on Wednesday after it rescinded the results a day before because of a confounding tabulation error.
“Yesterday’s ranked-choice voting reporting error was unacceptable and we apologize to the voters and to the campaigns for the confusion,” the board said in a statement on Wednesday. “Let us be clear: was not the problem, rather a human error that could have been avoided.”
It was the citys first foray into ranked-choice voting, which allowed voters to rank up to five candidates by preference, and by Tuesday evening the board thrust the race into a state of suspended animation after it acknowledged that 135,000 test ballots were accidentally included in the first initial report from the June 22 Democratic primary.
The Board Got Cute On Twitter Many Were Not Amused
These days, when error or scandal hits big organizations, a degree of sympathy goes out to the keepers of their social-media accounts, often young, poorly paid or both, who stand on the front lines and face the publics wrath.
The Twitter account for New York Citys Board of Elections, , is no exception. Since the board released incorrect preliminary results last Tuesday in the high-stakes race to choose the citys next mayor, the account has been its most visible conduit to the public. The account has not fared well.
It has been mocked for posting intermittent, incomplete updates and explanations. It has set deadlines for releasing new information, only to have the board break them again and again and then post important news late at night and without warning. It even posted an apology that seemed to be written like a mea culpa thumb-typed by a wayward social-media influencer using the iPhone Notes app, prompting more derision.
On Tuesday, the account offered an attempt at levity. In an apparent reference to the 4 p.m. release of its corrected initial results last Wednesday, the account promised that new partial voting results would come out closer to brunch special than to club hours.
We promise todays release is more brunch special vs. club hours.
NYC Board of Elections
Who among us hasnt pushed brunch to 7:30 pm posted one Politico reporter.
Its brunch oclock somewhere, countered a think-tank communications officer.
Nycs Election Board Aims To Certify The Vote By July 14 But Its Track Record On Deadlines Is Under Scrutiny
A Board of Elections official said Tuesday that she expected the mayoral primary to be certified by July 14, once voters have been given the chance to cure as many as 3,699 defective ballots.
Once those total cures are received and of course, if they all come back sooner than July 14 we will move with certification, Dawn Sandow, the deputy executive director of the Board of Elections, said during the boards weekly meeting.
Ms. Sandows new deadline on the board came as the board missed yet another opportunity to demonstrate its ability to keep to a self-imposed schedule.
On Tuesday, the boards Twitter account cheekily promised a new, possibly definitive round of results bymore brunch special vs. club hours. But as late morning turned to afternoon and afternoon to early evening, the board announced that in fact it hoped to release the new results by 7:30 p.m. In fact, they came out a little before 6:45 p.m.
The new tally includes most absentee votes and is therefore expected to be more definitive than the tally released last week which included none of the roughly 125,000 Democratic absentee ballots and was itself delayed by a day after the board accidentally included more than 130,000 extra test ballots in the total it released to the public, and then deleted from its website.
The board released corrected results the following day, but the damage to public confidence in the board was done. On Tuesday, Ms. Sandow called the reporting error unacceptable.
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How The Campaign Shaped Up During The Pandemic
The primary’s early months were dominated by Zoom forums.
Nonprofit organizations, unions, and other local groups held discussions that were less debates than opportunities for the candidates to repeat their campaign promises and sharpen their messaging.
Another factor making this campaign rather unusual was the general lack of public polling, with several pollsters saying they were uncomfortable simulating ranked-choice voting with any accuracy.
Yang started the race as the frontrunner, but as more polling became available in the final weeks, he began to slip into second, third, and even fourth place in some surveys.
However, Yang remained competitive throughout, and an Ipsos poll released on the eve of the primary showed him in second place behind Adams.
Adams cleaned up with labor endorsements around the city, while Yang received a first of its kind joint-endorsement from Hasidic and Orthodox Jewish community leaders. The borough president’s momentum was complicated by a scandal involving his primary residence, when a Politico investigation found Adams may have been living in either New Jersey or his office instead of a Bedford-Stuyvesant brownstone that he officially listed.
Garcia began to surge following her New York Times Editorial Board endorsement, and Wiley was able to capitalize on late support from Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.
Outside of the top four, several progressive candidates failed to gain traction, most notably City Comptroller Scott Stringer.
What Is A General Election
A General Election is an election that is being held throughout the state or country on the same day. The most prominent example is the Presidential election held every four years. Examples of statewide general elections include the races for the New York State Governor and New York State Senators.
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Candidate Positions By Issue
According to an Emerson College poll of likely Democratic primary voters conducted June 7-8, 2021, the top five issues in the New York City mayoral race were crime, policing, affordable housing, jobs, and healthcare.
This section contains quotes from the top Democratic primary candidates on these issues. Click on any of the following collapsible grey headers below to read more.
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Eric Adams
â - Being laser-focused on violent crimeâespecially guns.
- Reinventing the anti-crime unit as an anti-gun unit, using cops with the skills and temperament to balance community relations and catch the bad guys.
- Civilianizing areas of the NYPD that donât need to be staffed by cops.
- Shifting detectives and other officers from low-crime areas to crime hot-spots when surges occur.
- Strengthening handgun laws so that New York City residents are not put at risk by lax laws in other counties and municipalities.
Kathryn Garcia
Raymond McGuire
Scott Stringer
Maya Wiley
Andrew Yang
Raymond McGuire
Scott Stringer
Maya Wiley
Andrew Yang
Kathryn Garcia
Raymond McGuire
Scott Stringer
Maya Wiley
Andrew Yang
Our small businesses are the backbone of our economy â and we must provide them with the support to re-open and grow. At the same time, we have to spend New Yorkersâ tax dollars on New Yorkers and their businesses, focusing on minority- and women-owned businesses that have historically not been included in economic booms and City spending.
Kathryn Garcia
Raymond McGuire
Scott Stringer
State Political Party Revenue
State political parties typically deposit revenue in separate state and federal accounts in order to comply with state and federal campaign finance laws.
The Democratic Party and the Republican Party maintain state affiliates in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, and select U.S. territories. The following map displays total state political party revenue per capita for the Democratic state party affiliates.
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Why It Took Weeks To Learn Results
While tabulating ranked-choice votes is done via software and is not particularly arduous on its own, it’s taking weeks to know the final results of the mayor’s race because of New York’s procedures for counting absentee ballots.
New York continued to allow voters to vote absentee due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and state law allows a lot of time for ballots to be accepted and mistakes with voters’ ballots to be rectified.
Absentee ballots were accepted through June 29 as long as they were postmarked by Election Day, and voters have until July 9 to fix or “cure” issues, like missing signatures on the outer envelopes of their ballots, under a new state law.
Military and overseas absentee ballots postmarked by Election Day were also accepted through July 5.
Then, ranked-choice voting comes into play. In the mayoral, borough president, and city council races, voters have the option to rank up to five candidates in order of their preference after New York City voters approved a ballot initiative to enact ranked-choice voting in 2019.
Ranked-choice voting ensures that the candidate who eventually wins does so with a majority of the vote.
Since no candidate won over 50% of the vote outright in the Democratic mayoral primary, the votes earned by the candidate who comes in last place are redistributed up to the next-best performing candidate. The process then continues up the chain until one candidate finally earns a majority of the vote.
Mayor Of New York City
In 2001 the Independence Party endorsed Michael Bloomberg, the billionaire Republican candidate for mayor of New York City. He offered each of the five county organizations within the city $5000, which all but Staten Island , still led by Hamilton, accepted. Bloomberg also created his own independent ballot line, which he named the Students First Party, which was merged with the Independence Party’s line on the ballot. The votes he received on the combined Independence Party/Students First Party ballot line, which counted toward his total under New York’s fusion rule, exceeded his margin of victory over Democrat , who also appeared on the Working Families Party line.
The following year, the New York City Industrial Development Agency approved an $8.7 million bond to help finance a new headquarters for a youth charity controlled by Newman and Lenora Fulani, Newman’s chief spokesperson and a prominent Independence Party public figure. The media characterized approval of the bond as a reward from the mayor as well as incentive by Governor George Pataki to obtain Newman and Fulani’s support for his re-election campaign.
In 2017, the Independence Party endorsed Paul Massey for mayor of New York City.
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Primary Elections In New York
| Wisconsin Wyoming |
A primary election is an election used either to narrow the field of candidates for a given elective office or to determine the nominees for political parties in advance of a general election. Primary elections can take several different forms. In a partisan primary, voters select a candidate to be a political party’s nominee for a given office in the corresponding general election. Nonpartisan primaries are used to narrow the field of candidates for nonpartisan offices in advance of a general election. The terms of participation in primary elections can vary by jurisdiction, political party, and the office or offices up for election. The methods employed to determine the outcome of the primary can also vary by jurisdiction.
HIGHLIGHTS
See the sections below for general information on the use of primary elections in the United States and specific information on the types of primaries held in New York:
Adams Takes Fragile Lead In New York City Democratic Mayoral Primary Sliwa Wins Gop Primary
- Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams appeared to take a fragile lead in New York City’s Democratic mayoral primary.
- Former presidential candidate Andrew Yang, who was far behind in early returns, conceded about two hours after polls closed and vowed to work with the next mayor.
- In the Republican primary, Guardian Angels founder Curtis Sliwa defeated businessman Fernando Mateo.
Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams appeared to take a fragile lead Tuesday in New York City’s Democratic mayoral primary, but it could be weeks before it becomes clear who is actually on top in the first citywide election to use ranked choice voting.
As ballot counting began Tuesday, a plurality of Democrats ranked Adams as their first choice in the race.
It was tough to tell, though, whether that lead would hold. As many as 207,500 absentee ballots remained to be counted. Voters’ full rankings of the candidates have yet to be taken into account. It could be July before a winner emerges in the Democratic contest.
Adams, a former police captain who co-founded a leadership group for Black officers, was leading former city sanitation commissioner Kathryn Garcia and former de Blasio administration lawyer Maya Wiley.
Speaking to jubilant supporters, Adams acknowledged that he hadn’t won yet, and that under the ranked choice system there were multiple rounds of ballot counting still to go.
De Blasio, a Democrat, leaves office at the end of the year due to term limits.
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Why’d They Tally The Votes Twice
Wednesday’s release came after a chaotic 24 hours when the New York City Board of Elections released results that had accidentally included tens of thousands of test ballots in the results and then, hours later, pulled those results from their website and said more results would be released Wednesday.
“Yesterday’s ranked choice voting reporting error was unacceptable and we apologize to the voters and to the campaigns for the confusion,” Board of Elections President Frederic Umane and Secretary Miguelina Camilo said in a statement. “Let us be clear: was not the problem, rather a human error that could have been avoided. We have implemented another layer of review and quality control before publishing information going forward.”
“We can say with certainty that the election night vote counts were and are accurate and the RCV data put out today is correct as well,” the statement added.
Eric Adams Wins Democratic Primary In New York Citys Mayoral Race
Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams has won the Democratic primary for mayor of New York City after appealing to the political centre and promising to strike the right balance between fighting crime and ending racial injustice in policing.
A former police captain, Adams would be the citys second Black mayor if elected.
He triumphed over a large Democratic field in New Yorks first major race to use ranked choice voting. Results from the latest tabulations released Tuesday showed him leading former city sanitation commissioner Kathryn Garcia by 8,426 votes, or a little more than 1 percentage point.
While there are still some very small amounts of votes to be counted, the results are clear: an historic, diverse, five-borough coalition led by working-class New Yorkers has led us to victory in the Democratic primary for mayor of New York, Adams said in a statement.
He said he was running to deliver on the promise of this great city for those who are struggling, who are underserved, and who are committed to a safe, fair, affordable future for all New Yorkers.
Adams will be the prohibitive favourite in the general election against Curtis Sliwa, the Republican founder of the Guardian Angels. Democrats outnumber Republicans 7-to-1 in New York City.
Andrew Yang, the 2020 presidential candidate known for his proposed universal basic income, was an early favourite but faded in the race.
The mistake had no impact on the final outcome of the race.
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Incoming Nyc Mayor Eric Adamss New Administration
Schools Chancellor: David Banks.The longtime New York City educator who rose to prominence after creating a network of public all-boys schools will lead the nations largest public school system as it struggles to emerge from the pandemic.
Police Commissioner: Keechant Sewell.The Nassau County chief of detectives will become New York Citys first female police commissioner, taking over the nations largest police force amid a crisis of trust in American policing and a troubling rise in violence.
Commissioner of Correction Department: Louis Molina.The former N.Y.P.D. officer who currently oversees a public safety department in Las Vegas will be tasked with leading the citys embattled Correction Department and restoring order at the troubled Rikers Island jail complex.
Chief Counsel: Brendan McGuire.After a stint as a partner in a law firms white-collar practice, the former federal prosecutor will return to the public sector to advise the mayor on legal matters involving City Hall, the executive staff and administrative matters.
Transportation Commissioner: Ydanis Rodriguez.The Manhattan council member is a trusted ally of Mr. Adamss. Mr. Rodriguez will face major challenges in his new role: In 2021 traffic deaths in the city soared to their highest level since 2013, partly due to speeding and reckless driving.
But some older voters had first heard about Mr. Adams when he was a younger member of the police force, pushing to rein in police misconduct.
A Few Last Details Remain Before The Mayoral Primary Is Actually Over
While Eric Adams has been declared the Democratic nominee for mayor of New York City, some work remains to be done on the part of the other candidates, on the part of the campaigns attorneys, and on the part of the Board of Elections.
For one, while Mr. Adams has declared victory, neither of his two chief competitors has formally conceded.
The campaign of Kathryn Garcia, the former sanitation commissioner who trailed Mr. Adams by just one percentage point on Tuesday, or about 8,400 votes, called the results nearly final.
We are currently seeking additional clarity on the number of outstanding ballots and are committed to supporting the democratic nominee, said Ms. Garcias spokeswoman, Lindsey Green.
Maya Wiley, the former counsel to Mayor Bill de Blasio, was trailing both Ms. Garcia and Mr. Adams. On Tuesday night, she issued a statement calling the results initial and uncertified and used her statement to excoriate the Board of Elections.
It would be an understatement to express dismay at the B.O.E.s administration of this election, she said.
It was not clear when they intended to comment further.
Further, several questions remain about the minutiae of the New York City vote, questions that are highly unlikely to affect the outcome, but nevertheless may occupy election lawyers for days to come.
A Board of Elections spokeswoman was unable to immediately confirm the Adams campaigns account.
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