NYC Election Day 2023: No sleep ’til polls close in Brooklyn

Polls are open across New York on Tuesday, Election Day, from 6 a.m. until 9 p.m. And if you ever wondered if your vote matters, this is one of those (very) low-turnout elections where your vote could make all the difference.

Across the five boroughs, New York City voters will elect all 51 City Council members, along with district attorneys in the Bronx, Queens and Staten Island and roughly two dozen judicial elections. Voters will also be asked to weigh in on two statewide ballot questions.

After nine days of early voting — spanning from Oct. 28 through Nov. 5 — the New York City Board of Elections reported 85,957 people cast their ballots during that time. By comparison, after early voting in 2022 when candidates for governor, congress and state legislative races were all on the ballot, 432,634 voters turned out to vote during the early voting window. That’s roughly five times more people casting their ballots last year.

Still, there is time to boost those numbers in this election and send a message to elected leaders that their constituents are paying attention to the work they’re doing.

Even when a candidate is running in an uncontested race, you always have the option to write in someone else if you don’t want to vote for who is on the ballot.

While City Council members are normally elected to four-year terms, incumbents in these races were elected in 2021. The full Council is up for election again this year because of the decennial redistricting process, which adjusts the district lines based on the latest census figures.

Some of the changes to the Council map set the stage for a handful of very competitive races, especially in south Brooklyn and Queens. The redistricting process also created a new district in Brooklyn, where voters will elect a member for the first time in this election. More on those races below.

There’s a lot of moving pieces to keep tabs on. Here’s what else you need to know when you go out to vote, when to expect results and what to do if you have issues at your polling place.

Where do I vote?

The easiest way to find your polling place in New York City is to visit vote.nyc, which is the website for the city’s Board of Elections. The BOE has a tool that will help you find your poll site. When you enter your address, it will tell you where you go to vote and give you the option to view a sample ballot. Take advantage of that sample ballot so you can do any last-minute research and make your choices before you go vote.

Are people allowed to campaign inside a poll site?

No. That is called electioneering.

In fact, campaigning is prohibited within 100 feet of a polling place. There are site coordinators at every location, along with an NYPD officer who voters can inform if someone is campaigning too close to a location. But it’s not uncommon to see people handing out flyers for candidates around polling sites, just as long as they’re at least 100 feet away.

What if there are problems at my polling place?

You can report issues at any poll site to the BOE staff there. The New York State Attorney General also operates a hotline where voters can file complaints about any voter suppression or voter intimidation concerns. The NY AG also published a guide of frequently asked questions for voters.

NY Attorney General’s Election Day hotline: 1 (866) 390-2992

Common Cause New York, a good government group, will also be deploying roving poll site monitors at polling stations in districts with competitive races. There are also lawyers available to answer Election Day questions through the national nonpartisan Election Protection hotline the organization runs.

Election Protection: 886-OUR-VOTE

When will we know the results?

After polls close at 9 p.m., elections officials begin uploading results online fairly quickly. Those are called the “unofficial election night returns” and can be found on the Board of Elections website.

Some races may be called shortly after polls close. But there are a handful of very competitive races that may take more time to determine who won.

It is unclear how large a factor absentee ballots may play in close contests since the city Board of Elections has not yet published data about how many ballots were mailed out and returned.

A ballot can be received by the BOE up to a week after Election Day and counted as long as it’s postmarked no later than Election Day. The process to count all the votes and produce a final result can take several days or even weeks after the election.

What races is Gothamist watching?

We will monitor all of them but we will be paying special attention to these races:

Brooklyn’s District 43: Bensonhurst, Gravesend, Dyker Heights, Sunset Park, Boro Park.

There is no incumbent in this district, which was created through the redistricting process as an Asian opportunity district.

While Asian American voters are a very ethnically diverse group of voters in the city, Chinese-American voters are the largest ethnic group. This new district has a large population of Chinese-American voters.

There are three candidates on the ballot in this race: Democrat Susan Zhuang, Republican Yin Tang and Conservative Vito LaBella. All of the candidates talk about the need to address public safety and the rise in anti-Asian violence.

This race will be especially interesting because voters there are picking a new representative.

Reports have looked at the shift to the right among some Asian voters, particularly in communities with higher populations of Chinese-American voters. Right-leaning candidates have made some gains in these neighborhoods in the 2021 mayoral election and last year’s gubernatorial election, according to election analysis by the Center for Urban Research at The CUNY Graduate Center.

While there are far more registered Democrats in the district, the next largest share of voters are non-affiliated voters, people who are not registered with a party. It will be interesting to see which candidate appeals to a larger share of these unaffiliated voters — and what we learn about the strength of the major parties to turn out voters in this off-year cycle.

Brooklyn’s District 47: Fort Hamilton and parts of Bay Ridge on the west side, a narrow few blocks north of Dyker Beach Park over to parts of Bath Beach and Sea Gate on the east side.

The boundaries of this district changed a lot through that redistricting process, so much so that two incumbents, Justin Brannan and Ari Kagan, are running against each other.

But in another twist, Kagan changed parties from Democrat to Republican to challenge Brannan, a Democrat.

This is a purple district — in the 2021 election, voters gave Republican mayoral candidate Curtis Sliwa about 47.8% of the vote, while Democrat Eric Adams received 47.3%, according to an election analysis by the Center for Urban Research at The CUNY Graduate Center.

Bottom line: an incumbent is winning and an incumbent is losing — and that’s going to mean a change in how some voters feel represented.

Brooklyn’s District 48: Brighton Beach, Manhattan Beach, Sheepshead Bay, Midwood.

Incumbent Republican Inna Vernikov is facing two challengers: Amber Adler, a Democrat, and Igor Kazatsker, who is on the Team Trump ballot line. Vernikov was recently arrested for bringing a gun to a protest at Brooklyn College and was charged with a nonviolent felony. The case is ongoing.

Even though just under half of the district’s registered voters are Democrats, Republicans have been picking up support in the area in the last two elections.

Queens District 19: College Point, Whitestone, Bayside, Bay Terrace, Douglaston, Little Neck.

Incumbent Republican Vickie Paladino is being challenged by former councilmember and Democrat Tony Avella. Voters here tend to be conservative. Republican Curtis Sliwa won just shy of 60% of the vote compared to Eric Adams who won slightly more than 37% in the 2021 mayoral race. This is also a rematch for Paladino and Avella who had a very close race back in 2021.

Other races to watch:

Bronx District 13 where incumbent Democrat Marjorie Velázquez is facing a challenge from Republican Kristy Marmorato; and Queens District 20, where incumbent Democrat Sandra Ung is running against Yu-Ching James Pai who is running as a Republican and Conservative, as well as Jin Liang Chen who is running on the Better Flushing ballot line.

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