It’s Election Day, New York City! Time to get out there and cast your vote!
The polls officially opened at 6 a.m. today, with several New Yorkers getting up early to cast their votes. The polls will be open until 9 p.m. tonight.
The race to watch this year is the one for New York City mayor, where Democratic nominee Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams is up against Republican nominee and Guardian Angels founder Curtis Sliwa.
Earlier this morning, Adams cast his vote at his designated polling place, P.S. 81 in Brooklyn. Carrying a photo of his late mother, he broke into tears when speaking of going with her to vote in 1974, and his prospects of becoming the next mayor.
“Every little boy or little girl who was ever told they’d never amount to anything,” Adams said, “every child with a learning disability, every inmate sitting in Rikers, every dishwasher, every child in a homeless shelter, this is for all of you. I only have three words: I am you.”
Things weren’t as smooth when Sliwa went to cast his vote on the Upper West Side. He brought his cat with him, but Board of Elections poll workers wouldn’t let him in with one of his 17 felines. Sliwa also got into an imbroglio with them because he wore a jacket advertising his campaign.
That culminated with a shouting match inside the poll site at Frank McCourt High School, during which Sliwa claimed that they were attempting to deny him his right to vote, and have him arrested — claims which weren’t true, according to reporters on the scene. Eventually, things calmed down, and the Republican nominee cast his ballot — though there was more drama when the second page of Sliwa’s two-page ballot got jammed in the scanner.
In the afternoon, Mayor Bill de Blasio strolled into the Park Slope Library, shaking hands with voters as he went to cast his ballot for the final time as the city’s chief executive. At his press conference earlier Tuesday, the outgoing mayor — and prospective gubernatorial candidate in 2022 — said he would vote for his fellow Brooklynite Adams, whom he endorsed this summer.
.@NYCMayor shows up at the Park Slope Library to cast his vote pic.twitter.com/xNoBrmgTxe
— ben (@meatballmuligan) November 2, 2021
New Yorkers can also decide on citywide offices such as comptroller, and public advocate, along with City Council seats, judges, and five ballot proposals.
A reminder to all voters that even though the polls close at 9 p.m., if you are in line by 9 p.m. you are still allowed to vote. To find your poll site, visit findmypollsite.vote.nyc.
Stay tuned with amNewYork Metro and PoliticsNY throughout the day to stay up to date on what’s going on at the polls. This story will be updated with feedback from voters and photos from election sites.
