More than five times as many people went to cast ballots on the first day of early voting Saturday in the New York City mayoral election compared to 2021, according to the city Board of Elections.
Voters are deciding whether Zohran Mamdani, Andrew Cuomo or Curtis Sliwa will succeed Eric Adams — who won the 2021 race.
Saturday began early voting, which ends Sunday, Nov. 2. Election Day is Tuesday, Nov. 4.
The board posted that Saturday before the polls closed at 5 p.m. 79,409 people came to vote: 24,046 in Manhattan, 7,793 in the Bronx, 22,105 in Brooklyn, 19,045 in Queens and 6,420 on Staten Island.
In 2021, by comparison, 15,418 were reported to have voted on Day One of early voting: 4,563 in Manhattan, 2,079 in the Bronx, 3,751 in Brooklyn, 3,441 in Queens, and 1,584 on Staten Island.
Nearly 1.1 million people cast ballots in the primary election, 29.9% of all registered voters, with voter turnout hitting its highest peak in more than a decade for a citywide race, according to the city’s Board of Elections.
In the primary election that Mamdani eventually won — by a commanding 12.8 percentage points over Cuomo — early voting had surged roughly twice the turnout of four years earlier when Eric Adams became the Democratic nominee.
Almost every public opinion poll says Mamdani is certain to win.
Matthew Chayes, a Newsday reporter since 2007, covers New York City.