More than 735,000 New Yorkers cast early ballots ahead of Tuesday’s mayoral election, marking the highest early in-person turnout ever for a nonpresidential election in New York.
Sunday, the final day of early voting, had about 151,000 early voters, the most of any day since the polls opened, and more voters under 35 than in the first weekend combined, according to data from the city’s Board of Elections. That brought the median age of early in-person voters down to 50.
Turnout among younger age groups lagged early in the week, with about 80,000 people under 35 voting from Sunday to Thursday. That number jumped from Friday to Sunday, with over 100,000 voters under the age of 35 casting ballots, including more than 45,000 on Sunday.
More than four times as many early ballots were cast in this year’s closely watched mayor’s race, in which Zohran Mamdani, the Democratic nominee, leads his two rivals, Andrew Cuomo and Curtis Sliwa, as in the last mayor’s race, in 2021.
That election, the first mayor’s race in New York City where early voting was an option, saw approximately 170,000 early votes cast. The race was not very competitive, however, with Mayor Eric Adams capturing more than double the votes of his closest competitor, Mr. Sliwa.
The early in-person turnout this year was not quite so high as in last year’s presidential election, which saw over a million people vote early, but the electorate was younger. That’s surprising, because people who vote early generally skew older than registered voters as a whole.
Far more early ballots were also cast in this year’s mayoral race than in the 2022 midterm elections, during which approximately 433,000 people voted early in New York.
In that general election, when Gov. Kathy Hochul, a Democrat, faced a challenge from Lee Zeldin, a Republican, most early voters were older than 55. In last year’s presidential election, on the other hand, when turnout was higher, the median age sank down to 51. The median age of early voters this year fell even further to 50.
Alex Lemonides is a data journalist at The Times, working on a team that analyzes election results and conducts political polls.
Ashley Ahn covers breaking news for The Times from New York.
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