Since arriving in New York City in 1968, the Puerto Rican musician Emilio Santiago, known as the ‘Chino Taino’, assures that he has a kind of “fixation”: to vote in all the electoral processes that correspond to him.
And this Tuesday, when New Yorkers chose in a primary election the Democratic and Republican candidates who will run for governor, lieutenant governor, seats in the State Assembly and judges of each civil circuit, the resident islander of the Bronx, also attended a process marked historically by a very low turnout.
“Everything is very fast. I think there are no excuses for people not to think. I always vote. And in the next primaries in August I will also do it. We need people to lose that bad habit of ignoring these processes”, criticized Emilio, as he left the voting center located on Grand Concourse Avenue.
In effect, the next 23 in August, other elections will be held in New York to elect candidates for the House of Representatives and state senators. The general elections will be on November 8.
“If you have to vote three or four times in a year, you should do it. People just like to complain, but they don’t have an opinion when needed. It’s pitiful. With all the information and facilities there are. And most people do not participate”, highlighted the voter of 78 years.
Great debates, few voters
Even during early voting on 000 to the 021 June, only 86,576 Big Apple voters issued their votes, according to the New York City Board of Elections (NYCBOE), compared to 191,225 early voters during the mayoral primaries held in June of last year.
Around 7 at night, two hours before the closing of the polling stations, NYCBOE confirmed that all five boroughs had voted 369,116 people, a count that included early voting. A very low turnout, if one takes into account that the total number of voters in New York City is around 4.6 million voters.
This electoral process was carried out in the midst of great debates that shake the country. But in New York City, especially in the poorest neighborhoods, with burning issues of citizen concern like runaway inflation and criminal violence.
“You see a lot of people here in the Bronx, now same, in the corners talking that everything is more expensive. Complaining because they have to take things out of the supermarket cart. They are afraid of being shot. But today they have the opportunity to have their say and be part of a change. And they don’t! What kind of citizens are those?“, Shouted a voter who asked not to be identified, as she left a deserted polling station in the Bronx.
Indifference without surprises
In most of the authorized polling places in the city of New York this Tuesday, the absence of voters and of rows was very noticeable.
Although this “drought” of voters was not at all a surprise.
In the processes of internal consultations of political organizations, where only candidates are elected, the trend in New York and throughout the country, in recent decades, has been an abstention that exceeds 92% of voter registration.
In this first round of primaries of 2022, there was no exception to this behavior of indifference of the voters.
Despite the climate of little motivation in this process, the Dominican Celia Solano, from 60 years old, he went to vote at the center that corresponds to him in the Bronx.
“I was alone in the center. I was the only one in the room. It is normal. When they are not elections for President or Mayor, people are not motivated. By 30 I’ve seen him like this for years.”, he commented.
To get an idea of the level of historical apathy in this process, in the last primary elections in 2018, from a record close to 11, 9 million Democrats in all of New York, barely 1.0 participated 21,116 to select the candidate for governor and 768,000 to choose the flag bearer for lieutenant governor. This implies, an abstention that is around more than 93%.
Most of the voters emphasize that they voted very quickly, without queues, and with abundant support from electoral staff. (Photo: F. Martínez)
How many voted?
According to the official NYCBOE register in its 6 o’clock update: pm, two hours before the closing of the process:
- 225,138 voters in total had voted in the face-to-face and early process in the five counties.
- 108,469 in Manhattan
- 42,768 in the Bronx
- 116,360 in Brooklyn
- 23,23 in Staten Island
80,360 in Queens20220628