BOE releases second preliminary ranked-choice count
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New York City Board of Election staff members count absentee ballots in the primary election on Friday, July 2, 2021. AP photo by Mary Altaffer
By Jacob Kaye
The New York City Board of Elections released preliminary ranked-choice tallies in borough presidents’ races and City Council races throughout the city Tuesday, coming in only a few hours behind schedule.
The unofficial results follow the first release of results published live late Friday night. Tuesday’s results factored in absentee ballots, which weren’t included in the first count.
The second round of results followed the BOE’s trend for being tardy, although they weren’t nearly as late as the first round was.
Early Tuesday, the BOE tweeted that it would be releasing results by “brunch” time, though the results were more of a supper companion after they were published a little before 7 p.m.
Friday’s count was promised three days before but was put on hold after a mistake in the preliminary mayoral race count stopped the counting.
Despite the addition of 37,041 absentee ballots from Queens voters, the results between Friday’s and Tuesday’s count barely changed. In fact, the results between Tuesday’s count and the preliminary results published on Election Day, which only factored in first choice votes, didn’t differ too drastically.
The BOE plans to release a final, certified and official count next week.
In Queens, nine of the 15 races for City Council advanced to a ranked-choice count – the other six races had a candidate leading with over 50 percent of the vote after the first round of counting, eliminating the need for a ranked-choice tally.
In every City Council race in Queens that advanced to RCV rounds, the candidate who was leading after the first round ended up in the lead by the final one.
For the most part, the more moderate candidates won out across the borough. Of the 18 candidates endorsed by Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s Courage to Change PAC, only four were in the lead following the preliminary count.
See a breakdown of the unofficial ranked-choice count throughout Queens below:
Queens borough president
It appears that Jimmy Van Bramer voters like incumbent Borough President Donovan Richards more than former City Councilmember Elizabeth Crowley.
After the first round of counting, Richards held 41 percent of the vote to Crowley’s 40 percent. A distant third, Van Bramer received a little over 17 percent of the vote. Because he was in last place, Van Bramer’s ballots were redistributed in the third and final round of counting, boosting Richard’s number to a leading 50.3 percent.
The unofficial results show the current BP ahead by a little more than 1,000 votes.
District 19
Former City Councilmember and State Senator Tony Avella led the pack of six candidates after the first round of counting. After the RCV tabulation, the story was the same – Avella was out in front with nearly 54 percent of the vote.
District 19 (Republican)
None of the Republican primary races went into RCV tabulation because all were two-person races. In District 19, Vickie Paladino led challenger John-Alexander Sakelos with nearly 52 percent of the vote.
District 20
Sandra Ung, who was in the lead after the first round of counting, finished on top of the race in District 20 with around 55 percent of the vote. Ellen Young currently sits in second with 45 percent of the vote.
Congresswoman Grace Meng declared victory for her former staffer over the weekend.
“From standing-up for immigrants and seniors to assisting small businesses and families, Sandra will spend every day working to improve the great borough of Queens, and I look forward to her helping to bring our city to new heights in the years ahead,” Meng said in a statement.
District 21
Incumbent City Councilmember Francisco Moya held a little over 51 percent of the vote following the first round of counting, eliminating the need for a ranked-choice count.
District 22
With one of the largest leads in Queens, Tiffany Caban finished the ranked-choice tabulation well ahead of second place candidate Evie Hantzopoulos. The former candidate for Queens District Attorney had around 62 percent of the vote following the third and final round of counting.
A large group of voters living in District 22, will soon be represented by Democratic Socialists of America-backed candidates at the local, state and federal level.
District 23
Linda Lee led the race in District 23 after RCV tabulation with 54 percent of the vote. During the first preliminary count, the race was the only in Queens in which the eventual leader wasn’t in first place after every round of counting. Candidate Jaslin Kaur pulled out with a slim lead after the fifth round, but Lee was back on top after the sixth and final round.
On Tuesday’s second count, which factored in absentee ballots, Lee led the race after each round of counting.
Congratulating Lee on her win, Kaur conceded the race on Monday.
“The final tabulations have not been certified, but it is clear that, though we led for part of the ranked choice process, we will finish a close second in the final round,” Kaur said in a statement.
District 23 (Republican)
James F. Reilly held a healthy lead over Alex Amoroso after the preliminary count. Reilly, who received a smidge over 1,000 votes, held an approximately 550 vote advantage over Amoroso.
District 24
City Councilman James Gennaro received over 60 percent of the vote after the first round of counting, eliminating the need for RCV tabulation.
District 24 (Republican)
Timothy Rosen was in the lead over Angelo King with 59 percent of the vote following the preliminary count.
District 25
Absentee ballots changed the shape of the race in District 25, but it’s eventual winner stayed the same. Shekar Krishnan was in the lead with 53.4 percent of the vote over Yi Andy Chen, who finished second by the seventh and final round of counting. But that wasn’t always the case.
Chen led the count in rounds one, two, three and four.
District 26
The most crowded race in Queens saw 15 rounds of RCV counting. Julie Won, who held a slim lead over Amit Bagga after the first round of counting, finished the race on top with 56 percent of the vote.
District 27
Nantasha Williams led the District 27 race with 35.6 percent of the vote after the first round of counting. Williams finished the RCV tabulation with the largest lead in any of the RCV races in Queens with nearly 73 percent of the vote.
District 28
City Councilmember Adrienne Adams held over 50 percent of the vote against challengers Ruben Wills and Japneet Singh after the first round of counting. An RCV tabulation wasn’t necessary.
District 29
Lynn Schulman led the pack in District 29 with 23 percent of the vote after the first round of counting. After the final round, Schulman held 60 percent.
In addition to claiming victory for Ung in District 20, Meng declared victory for Schulman.
“I am so proud to have endorsed and campaigned for Lynn and look forward to working with her as our next Councilmember from the 29th District,” Meng said in a statement. “For years, I've witnessed her exceptional advocacy and activism, and I'm thrilled that she'll now put her talents to use as a member of the City Council.”
District 30
City Councilmember Robert Holden led challenger Juan Ardilla with 54 percent of the vote after the first round of counting, eliminating the need for a RCV tabulation.
District 31
Incumbent Selvena Brooks-Powers, who won the special election for the seat in February, the first RCV race in the city’s history – came out on top after the first round of counting with 67.4 percent of the vote.
Her two challengers, Nancy Martinez and Nicole Lee, also ran against Brooks-Powers in the special election. During that race, both were among the first three candidates eliminated in the count.
District 32
Felicia Singh led with the 36 percent after the first round of counting in a close race in District 32. By the final round of RCV tabulation, Singh led Michael Scala with 52 percent of the vote.
District 32 (Republican)
The chair of the Queens County GOP Joann Ariola held over 81 percent of the vote over challenger Stephen Sirgiovanni in the race to replace the only Queens Republican in the City Council, Eric Ulrich.
District 34
The biggest blowout in Queens, Jennifer Gutierrez led challengers Scott Murphy, Andy J. Marte and Lutchi Gayo with 79.5 percent of the vote after the first round of counting, eliminating the need for an RCV tabulation.
