Photo by visuals on Unsplash
The New York City Board of Elections (BOE) republished a preliminary report of the 2021 Primary Election unofficial RCV count tabulation for mayor, city comptroller and public advocate on Wednesday, June 30, having published erroneous data in relation to the mayoral race the previous day, and having removed the data shortly afterwards. The agency cited human error which caused 130,000 test votes to be included in the tally / system when they shouldn’t have been.
The latest preliminary results, which only take into account early votes and election day votes, show Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams leading the mayoral race with 51.1 percent (358,521 votes) of the vote share, after Round 9, followed by former NYC sanitation commissioner, Kathryn Garcia, with 48.9 percent (343,766 votes). All other candidates were deemed “eliminated.” The BOE stressed that this was “a preliminary report and that another report would be released on July 6.”
Unlike on Election Night, the latest results/report did not include any reference to the percentage of scanners reported in relation to these latest early and Election Day vote tallies. On election night, in the mayoral Democratic primary race, as reported, only 86.57 percent of scanners had been reported. This was updated to 96.62 percent the following day.
Source: NYC Board of Elections
Inactive ballots (early and Election Day votes, with no choices left) in the Democratic mayoral race amounted to 117,327 (excluding absentee ballots). Citywide returned absentee ballots, as of June 30, in this Democratic primary race amounted to 125,570. If any of the top three candidates, including lawyer and human rights activist, Maya Wiley, were to receive all these as first-choice votes, it could guarantee them a win.
Ray McGuire conceded and issued the following statement on July 1.
Image via Twitter
As reported, Stringer conceded the race on June 29. Dianne Morales also conceded and issued a video statement on YouTube on July 1.
In the city comptroller’s race, Councilman Brad Lander remains in the top spot with 51.9 percent (296,081 votes) of the vote share (excluding absentee ballots), followed by NYC Council Speaker Corey Johnson with 48.1 percent (274,949 votes), and all other candidates were, once again, deemed “eliminated.” Inactive ballots (early and Election Day votes, with no choices left) in this race amounted to 182,787 (excluding absentee ballots). Absentee returned ballots for this race, as of June 30, amounted to 131,387, again leaving the race still up for grabs.
The percentage of reported scanners on Election Night for this race was 86.79 percent. This was updated to 96.62 percent the following day. Again, the latest tallies for this race did not include any reference to the percentage of scanners reported.
Source: NYC Board of Elections
In the public advocate’s race, Jumaane Williams still leads with 70 percent (498,887 votes) of the vote share (excluding absentee ballots). There were no inactive ballots (of the early and Election Day votes) listed. Absentee returned ballots for this race, as of June 30, amounted to 131,387. Even if Herbert (runner-up) were to win all first-choice absentee votes, he would not surpass Williams at this stage. On Election Night, the initial results were based on 86.57 percent of scanners reported. This was updated to 96.62 percent the following day. Again, the latest tallies for this race omitted any reference to the percentage of scanners reported.
Video courtesy of NYC Votes and NYC Campaign Finance Board.
Similarly, in the Republican mayoral primary, Curtis Sliwa remains in the top position with 68.8 percent (37,846 votes) of the vote share (excluding absentee ballots). There were no inactive ballots (of the early and Election Day votes) in this race listed and absentee returned ballots, as of June 30, in this race amounted to 5,802. Even if the runner-up, Fernando Mateo, were to win all of the absentee first-choice votes, he would still not overtake Sliwa.
The percentage of reported scanners the day after Election Day, June 23, in this race, was 96.62 percent. (We had not logged the Election Night results for this race and they are now no longer available.) Once again, the latest tallies for this race omitted any reference to the percentage of scanners reported.
Source: NYC Board of Elections
As previously reported, ahead of Election Day, the BOE released details of any absentee ballots issued and returned as of June 21, 2021. Any remaining voters who had not returned their absentee ballots at that stage could still have done so on Election Day, as long as they were post-marked June 22.
In the meantime, the BOE released updated data on the number of absentee ballots issued and returned as of June 30. Citywide and Bronx absentee ballot numbers issued and returned as of this date are included as screen shots further below.
Source: NYC Board of Elections
The Commissioners of the BOE posted the following statement on the BOE website on Wednesday in reference to Tuesday’s erroneous report.
“Yesterday’s ranked choice voting reporting error was unacceptable and we apologize to the voters and to the campaigns for the confusion. Let us be clear: RCV was not the problem, rather a human error that could have been avoided. We have implemented another layer of review and quality control before publishing information going forward,” the statement read.
Source: NYC Board of Elections
It continued, “We can say with certainty that the election night vote counts were and are accurate and the RCV data put out today is correct as well. As we continue to count absentee ballots and run further RCV tabulations, we will do so with a heightened sense that we must regain the trust of New Yorkers. We will continue to hold ourselves accountable and apologize to New York City voters for any confusion.”
Video courtesy of NYC Votes & NYC Campaign Finance Board.
The statement was signed by Frederic M. Umane, president, and Miguelina Camilo, secretary, on behalf of the Commissioners of Board of Elections in City of New York.
Source: NYC Board of Elections
As reported, the BOE previously advised the following in terms of the timing of the primary election results and count process:
- Unofficial election night results will be posted at the close of polls on election day. These results will include first-choice votes from early voting and election day but will not include absentee and affidavit ballots.
- One week later, preliminary RCV elimination rounds will be tabulated and an unofficial report will be released. The tally will not include any absentee ballots.
- The ranking of candidates may continue to change until all absentee ballot processing is completed and all cure deadlines have expired.
- Preliminary RCV elimination rounds will be conducted and reports released every week until the election is certified. Final results in rank-choice elections will not be known until all absentee and military ballots are counted.
Source: NYC Board of Elections
How Will Votes Be Counted?
All first-choice votes are counted. If a candidate receives more than 50% of first-choice votes, that candidate wins.
If no candidate earns more than 50% of first-choice votes, then counting will continue in rounds.
At the end of each round, the last-place candidate is eliminated and voters who chose that candidate now have their vote counted for their next choice.
Your vote is counted for your second choice only if your first choice is eliminated. If both your first and second choices are eliminated, your vote is counted for your next choice, and so on.
This process continues until there are two candidates left. The candidate with the most votes wins.
Source NYC Board of Elections via Twitter
Norwood News raised some questions with the BOE regarding the sequence of the vote count process, as opposed to the vote count methodology. Some New Yorkers queried on social media why the absentee ballots, for example, were not included before the run-off (RCV tabulation) process began, since all votes, including all first-choice votes, should be weighted equally whether they are in-person, early votes or absentee votes. We did not receive an immediate response.
In the meantime, the BOE released an important video notice in which it advised New Yorkers to keep an eye out for any potential notifications from the BOE advising how previously submitted absentee ballots by impacted voters could be corrected, if needed.
We will provide further updates as and when they become available. The BOE tweeted on Wednesday that the preliminary report for the borough president and City Council races was expected on Thursday. However, on Thursday afternoon, the board tweeted that this would not happen on Thursday, finally. A new date has not yet been specified for the release of said report.
🚨As we conduct various quality control measures; the Board will not release the preliminary RCV rounds for Borough President & City Council today.
— NYC Board of Elections (@BOENYC) July 1, 2021
As of Friday, July 2, at 7.30 p.m., there was no further update on the borough president or city council races.
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Welcome to the Norwood News, a bi-weekly community newspaper that primarily serves the northwest Bronx communities of Norwood, Bedford Park, Fordham and University Heights. Through our Breaking Bronx blog, we focus on news and information for those neighborhoods, but aim to cover as much Bronx-related news as possible. Founded in 1988 by Mosholu Preservation Corporation, a not-for-profit affiliate of Montefiore Medical Center, the Norwood News began as a monthly and grew to a bi-weekly in 1994. In September 2003 the paper expanded to cover University Heights and now covers all the neighborhoods of Community District 7. The Norwood News exists to foster communication among citizens and organizations and to be a tool for neighborhood development efforts. The Norwood News runs the Bronx Youth Journalism Heard, a journalism training program for Bronx high school students. As you navigate this website, please let us know if you discover any glitches or if you have any suggestions. We’d love to hear from you. You can send e-mails to norwoodnews@norwoodnews.org or call us anytime (718) 324-4998.
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I don’t understand how BOE can eliminate anyone until they count the 131k absentee ballots.
We agree Christine. This was one of our queries. The BOE stressed it was a preliminary report and that a further report would be issued in July but indeed, as mentioned in the story, this was why we queried the sequence of events in terms of the RCV count process. We did not receive an immediate response. We will keep you updated.