In this week’s New York State Democratic mayoral primary elections, including New York City, several major cities saw voter turnout fail to exceed 30%. Analysis points to record-breaking high temperatures and obstacles in the electoral system leading to a significant absence of voters, sparking further calls for election reform and open primaries.
In the state capital Albany, 29.8% of voters participated in the election, with City Auditor Dorcey Applyrs winning the Democratic primary against three opponents. Applyrs will face Republican and Conservative Party nominee Rocco Pezzulo in November. Due to Albany’s overwhelming Democratic majority, it is expected that the winner will succeed the current Mayor Kathy Sheehan.
In Buffalo, State Senator Sean Ryan secured victory over Acting Mayor Chris Scanlon by a 10-point margin, with a voter turnout of approximately 24.5%.
Rochester Mayor Malik Evans successfully defended his position against opponents, with only 18.7% of Democratic voters turning out to vote.
Sharon Owens, the Deputy Mayor of Syracuse, was elected with over 60% of the votes, despite the city’s voter turnout being only 17.6%.
In New York City, preliminary data indicates that the voter turnout among Democratic voters was slightly below 30%. State Assemblyman Zohran Mamdani led on primary night, but due to the use of ranked-choice voting, the official results will be revealed next week. Incumbent Mayor Adams plans to participate in the November mayoral general election as an independent candidate, where he will compete against Republican Curtis Sliwa and potentially Andrew Cuomo running as a third-party candidate.
The overwhelming Democratic advantage in most upstate cities implies that whoever wins the primary is almost certain to win the November general election. It has been over a century since Albany last elected a Republican mayor.
While high temperatures were cited as one of the reasons for low voter turnout, some political figures pointed out that the system itself also limits voter participation. Tim Hoefer, the executive director of the non-profit advocacy group Unite NY, told Gothamist that New York State should follow the lead of over 30 other states in the U.S. and allow independent voters to participate in major party primaries.
“The current voter turnout is not representative, let alone excluding so many potential voters,” Hoefer said.
According to data from the New York City Charter Revision Commission, voter turnout in each mayoral election since 2009 has not exceeded 30%. The commission recently released a preliminary report outlining several reform proposals, including allowing voters to freely choose which party’s primary to participate in or adopting a “jungle primary” system where all candidates compete together, with the top few advancing to the general election.
In an effort to address the issue of low voter turnout, the state legislature passed a law in 2023 to hold local elections for county executives, town supervisors, and other local officials in even-numbered years to synchronize with congressional elections.