Under incessant rain that worsened in the afternoon, the Democratic and Republican primary elections were held in the Big Apple, under a climate of very low participation and where for practical purposes, there are no results to expect.
For the campaigns of President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump, these interns in New York mean very little to winning their nominations. Both already have enough delegates for this summer’s conventions, where they will officially be the anointed of their parties, for the presidential race in November.
In a tour by El Diario, through six electoral centers, in Washington Heights, in Upper Manhattan, one of the New York towns where the electoral appointments are marked by hubbub and a high presence of voters, as this Tuesday passes, only one or another voter approached the centers.
Between 6 in the morning and 6 in the afternoon based on projections from the New York City Board of Elections (NYCBOE), nearly 97,000 voters had voted in person in the five boroughs.
The trend in New York in recent years is an absenteeism of close to 96% in internal votes. Although for voters like the Dominican migrant Manuel Ruiz, who has closely followed the electoral days for 20 years, the “drought” of votes has other reasons.
“I think that unfortunately the people I talk to are not moved by any of the options that are competing. Neither from one party, nor from another. Neither extreme. I have visited several centers this morning, because as a good Dominican, I like politics. But what I have seen are centers where no one has gone,” said the islander in front of Fort Washington Collegiate Church, where he went to vote.
A few blocks away, at Public School 173 of the ‘Little Dominican Republic’, a place enabled as a voting center, was the Puerto Rican Jorge Machado, who assured that he was “not motivated at all” to participate in this internal process. . But yes, he is prepared for the presidential elections in November.
“I think this early voting thing has confused a lot of people. Before it was a primary day and an election day and that’s it. I am sure that for the presidential elections there will be long lines. It will not be a desert like today. People are fed up with the way things are going in the country. And in the case of New York, not to mention,” commented the Puerto Rican.
At one extreme and another…
Another Dominican, Desiré Santos, 50, did not participate either because she is not affiliated with any political party, which was an essential condition to vote in these elections. This woman from Quisqueya is part of the group of New York voters that is not affiliated with any party organization: “I don’t understand the reasons for these elections. And honestly to this day I have no idea who I’m going to vote for in the presidential election. Neither Trump nor Biden, I like them. I’ll have to see which one is the least bad.”
According to the Independent Voter Project, like Desiré, 23.9% of the more than 14 million registered voters in New York State are independent.
For the young democrat, Sofía Valdivieso, 24, it is the first time she participated in a primary and she went to “rehearse,” in her words, how to vote for the re-election of the current president, Joe Biden. This student of Colombian origin assures that “it will never be an option to vote in favor of racism and for those who object to the rights of women to decide for their bodies.”
At the other extreme, Dominican Jesús Farías, 55, approached Public School 173 in Upper Manhattan, pointing out that he went to “ratify Donald Trump’s candidacy,” but he was not registered to vote.
“I couldn’t participate. But starting today, I’m starting to figure out how I’m going to do it in November. This country, and particularly this city, needs a tough hand against crime, not politicians who are against the police and in favor of criminals. Furthermore, we cannot continue with open borders,” concluded the Washington Heights resident.
At the closure:
- Approximately 100,000 voters across New York State cast their ballots during the eight days of early voting according to the New York State Board of Elections.
- 55,879 early voting registrations in the five boroughs of NYC, which is about 1% of those registered.
- Approximately 97,000 voters had voted in person between 6 a.m. and 12 noon this Tuesday, April 2, in the five boroughs of NYC.
- 14,520,476 voters are registered in NY, but 23.9% were not qualified to participate in these elections, because they did not have a party affiliation. That is, 3,476,222 voters.