Tech:NYC Digest: November 1

Tech:NYC Digest: November 1

November 01, 2021 • Estimated Reading Time: 4 minutes

Monday, November 1, 2021

Happy Election Day Eve! For today’s digest, we wanted to focus your attention on tomorrow’s general election — what’s your plan to get out and vote?

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Tomorrow’s the big day: Election Day! (Unless you voted early, in which case, fist bump!)

If you still need to cast your ballot, here’s a few links to help you plan:

  • Find your poll site and view your sample ballot here.

  • Learn about the candidates on your ballot here.

  • If you have an absentee ballot, postmark it or drop it off at any Board of Elections office by tomorrow. Track it here.

Tomorrow’s turnout is desperately needed: During the nine-day early voting period, just 170,000 residents cast their vote. That’s barely three percent.

  • And it’s only 15 percent of what turnout was in the same amount of time for the 2020 presidential election — more than 1.1 million votes.

Why it’s important: The vast majority of the city’s representation is set to change over when new leaders take the oath in January.

  • You won’t be making a selection just for mayor: the seats for comptroller, public advocate, all five borough presidents, and Manhattan district attorney are also on the ballot.

  • All 51 City Council members will be elected as well, with the majority of seats going to new officials replacing term-limited incumbents.

NYC is overwhelmingly Democratic — by a nearly seven-to-one margin — and current Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams is heavily favored to become the next mayor against Republican nominee Curtis Sliwa (who’s most known for founding the Guardian Angels and owning 16 cats).

  • Unlike the June primary election, the general election will not be decided through ranked-choice voting — you’ll make one choice per office — which means vote tallies are likely to be completed much more quickly. 

  • Barring any surprises, we'll know the results tomorrow night. There will still be outstanding absentee ballots, so the results will be unofficial, but winners will likely be declared.

And remember to flip your ballot! In addition to the candidates, the back of your ballot has five changes to the state constitution to vote on.

  • Those ballot proposals touch on political representation in Albany and Congress; environmental rights; voter registration rules and absentee balloting; and how the city’s civil court works. For explainers on each, THE CITY’s guide is very handy. 

Polls are open citywide tomorrow from 6am – 9pm. See you out there!

Further reading:

  • Election Day Is Here. So Is Our Last-Minute Voting Guide (THE CITY)

  • NYC Election Preview: Here’s what you need to know to make your vote count (New York Daily News)

  • Not Just the Mayor: NYC’s Other City- and Borough-Wide Seats in November’s Election (THE CITY)

  • One Final Day of Campaigning (New York Times)

Other resources:

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