This article is adapted from our weekly Civic Newsroom newsletter, which is sent out every Tuesday. You can sign up here to get it or fill out the form at the bottom of this post.
The big moment may be nearer than you think: Primary Day is June 22, but early voting begins this weekend.
If you’re registered with a major party, this Saturday, June 12, marks your first chance to cast a ballot in the citywide primary. Doors open at 8 a.m.
If you’re planning to vote early in person, here are some things to keep in mind:
- Your voting site: Your early voting site may be different from your Primary Day voting site. Double check you’re going to the right place with this look-up tool from the city Board of Elections.
- Your ballot: Here’s how to find out exactly who will be on your ballot.
- Ranked choice voting: You can rank your top five candidates by preference. Still not sure exactly how you should play it? Here are strategy tips on how best to use ranked choice voting, according to the experts.
- Do you live in Manhattan? Every city election will be conducted using ranked choice voting — including mayor, comptroller, public advocate, the borough presidents and all City Council members — but state positions will not. That means ranked choice is not in effect for the Manhattan district attorney race. Manhattanites, get ready to choose just one new DA on your ballot!
Not so sure about voting in person? No big deal.
- Remember, anyone can vote absentee due to special COVID-19 rules again in effect this year — and you still have time to request your absentee ballot. The deadline is June 15. Here’s how to get one.
- If you already have your absentee ballot and want to deliver it in-person, you can drop it off to any early voting site during voting hours. Here’s how to find a voting site — and voting hours, which vary during the early voting period.
Early voting kicked off with a bang in New York during the presidential election last fall, with hours-long lines at poll sites across the boroughs. All those early birds meant Election Day itself was relatively quiet, with few lines. In total, more than 1.1 million New York City residents voted early in the 2020 election.
THE CITY Helps You Navigate the 2021 Elections
Our guide is here to make your decisions easier, with details on candidates, the jobs they’re running for, how to use the new ranked-choice voting system and more.
Still having trouble navigating the primary?
There’s a lot to keep track of. Our new primary election voter guide offers a one-stop outlet for everything you need to know.
It contains key dates, some of our latest stories and some tools we hope will help:
- We got replies from (most of) the mayoral candidates on 15 different issue surveys — like housing, policing, immigration and others — to create an interactive guide to help voters find their best match for mayor. Now, we’ve pulled all of those quizzes together in one final, supersized superquiz — Meet Your Mayor: Ultimate Match.
- There are hundreds of people running for City Council. We made a map of who’s running in each district.
- If you need to figure out which City Council district you live in, check here.
- Here’s who’s running for borough president in each borough.
- Here’s who’s running for comptroller, the city’s money manager and auditor.
- Here’s who’s running for public advocate, second in line to the mayor.
All set to vote? Help guide others through the process.
We’re trying to get as many people to vote this year as possible, and we’d love your help spreading the word.
We’ve also created this printable guide with essential information on voting. If you’re looking for an easy way to get information on the election to your neighbors, we hope you can share this.
If you end up sharing it, let us know. If you have any questions, email us at civicnewsroom@thecity.nyc or call or text us at 917-720-6245.
Join us for Voterfest!
The next round of Civic Newsroom — where we meet with readers and neighbors to better understand what voters need and want to know — will be outside.
We hosted our first event this past weekend in Mott Haven, and have two more events coming up: in Brownsville, Brooklyn, and Flushing, Queens.
We had lots of fun at Brook Park in Mott Haven with our friends from South Bronx Unite, Nos Quedamos and BronxNet, sharing information with voters and enjoying music in the garden from BombaYo, poetry from Urayoan Noel and food from La Morada.
At the next events, there also will be music, art, locally catered food — and information and activities to help you learn more about the primary. Join us!
- Brownsville at the Brownsville Library (61 Glenmore Ave.) on Saturday, June 12, from noon to 6 p.m. Sign up here.
- Flushing at Bowne Playground (Union Street and Barclay Avenue) on Saturday, June 19, from noon to 6 p.m. Sign up here.
City Comptroller Debate Thursday
The eight Democratic candidates for city comptroller will face off at 7 p.m. Thursday during the first city Campaign Finance Board-sanctioned broadcast debate for that office.
We’re co-sponsoring the event with our friends at NY1, WNYC/Gothamist, Citizens Union, John Jay College of Criminal Justice and Social Work Votes (Columbia School of Social Work & Latino Leadership Institute).
NY1’s Errol Louis will moderate and ask the candidates questions, along with WNYC’s Brigid Bergin and THE CITY’s Rachel Holliday Smith.
The debate will be broadcast on Spectrum News NY1 and WNYC from 7 p.m. to 8:30 p.m., with a livestream here.
Meet Your Mayor: Ultimate Match
Candidates for NYC mayor told us where they stand on 15 big issues. Now you can pick your positions and see which contenders are the right ones for you.
Other Upcoming Election-Related Events
- Tuesday, June 8, at 9 p.m. — BronxNet City Council District 12 debate will be streamed here
- Wednesday, June 9, at 6:30 p.m. — AARP Citywide Comptroller Debate
- Wednesday, June 9, at 6 p.m. — Ranked Choice Voting Workshop en Español
- Wednesday, June 9, at 9 p.m. — BronxNet City Council District 13 debate will be streamed here
- Thursday, June 10, at 7 p.m. — Official Campaign Finance Board Comptroller Debate
- Thursday, June 10, at 6 p.m. — APA VOICE City Council District 25 Candidate Forum
- Thursday, June 10, at 9 p.m. — BronxNet City Council District 14 debate will be streamed here
- Friday, June 11, at 9 p.m. — BronxNet City Council District 15 debate will be streamed here
- Monday, June 14, at 9 p.m. — BronxNet Bronx Borough President debate will be streamed here
What we’re reading
- THE CITY released a final Meet Your Mayor quiz with highlights from all the categories to help you make sense of your ballot.
- THE CITY also checked in to see what youth are looking for in a mayor, uncovered a transcript that showed Eric Adams’ shaky memory when talking to investigators probing the 2010 Aqueduct casino deal and revealed a Bronx City Council candidate’s contentious history with the local community board he works for.
- City Limits wrote about City Council races in Manhattan’s District 2 and Queens District 32, and Gotham Gazette covered races in Brooklyn’s District 34 and Manhattan’s District 1.
- City and State looks at how Queens’ politicians are starting to become more representative of the borough’s residents, especially in this primary election, and broke down how NYC’s budget process works.
- City and State also checked in with the state of the unionization effort of Dianne Morales’ campaign.
- The New York Times broke the news that AOC is endorsing Maya Wiley for mayor, and City Limits looked at her track record on policing.
- Gothamist checked in with the mayoral candidates’ latest leg of campaigning and created this explainer looking at each of the hopefuls.
What are your election questions?
If you have any questions about the election process, the candidates or any other information when it comes to voting in New York, let us know by replying to this email or sending a note to civicnewsroom@thecity.nyc.
You can sign up to get these updates to your email inbox or as a text message every Tuesday here.
