Primary Primer: From Ranked Choice Voting to Finding the Right Poll Site to ‘Am I Even Registered?’

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An arrow points the way to June 28, 2022’s Primary Election Day voting at Chelsea’s FIT (Fashion Institute of Technology). | Photo by Scott Stiffler

Anticipating the here-before-you-know-it General Election of November 4, 2025,  the Primary Election is set to take place from 6am to 9pm on Tuesday, June 24–with an early voting period from June 14 to 22.

But first things first: Are you even qualified to vote in the Primary Election? The NYC Board of Elections has the answer via this link or by calling 1-866-868-3692. Elsewhere on the Board’s website, this page locates your polling site and allows you to view a sample ballot.

On the ballot are races for NYC Mayor, Public Advocate, Comptroller, Borough President, and City Council Member, along with a State race for District Attorney. Two currently serving elected officials are in the running for a new office. Manhattan Borough President (MBP) Mark D. Levine is one of four Comptroller candidates on the ballot, while NYS Senator Brad Hoylman-Sigal hopes his second consecutive bid for MBP is successful, after seeing Levine win the 2021 race with 53.7 percent of the vote, to his 46.3 percent. Elsewhere on the ballot and of particular relevance to Chelsea is the City Council District 3 race, in which challenger Jacqueline Lara seeks to unseat Erik D. Bottcher.

When casting your ballot in this primary election, you’ll be asked to do a little math–as in, count to five. This is a Ranked Choice election, which allows voters to “rank up to five candidates in order of preference instead of choosing just one,” according to this page from the NYC Votes website. (NYC Votes is, according to its About Us page, “an initiative of the New York City Campaign Finance Board, the independent city agency that ensures local elections are fair, inclusive, and open.”

You can still vote “for just your 1st-choice candidate,” they note.“ Cities that have implemented ranked choice voting have elected more women and more women of color,” says NYC Votes, “making their elected officials more representative of their communities.” For a tutorial on how to fill out your ballot, Ranked Choice style, click here and also see the below graphic.

So that’s how Ranked Choice votes are cast. As for how they’re counted, NYC Votes notes here that if a candidate “gets more than 50% of first choice votes they win. Otherwise, ballots are counted in rounds until 2 candidates remain.”

See below, the days, dates, and time periods for June 14-22’s Early Voting period.
To download an Early Voting Poll Site list for New York County, click here.

Saturday, Sunday & Monday, June 14, 15, 16: 9am to 5pm

Tuesday & Wednesday, June 17 & 18: 10am to 8pm

Thursday, June 19: 9am to 5pm

Friday, June 20: 8am to 4pm

Saturday & Sunday, June 21 & 22: 9am to 5pm

The General Election is Tuesday, November 4, 2025. Polls are open from 6am to 9pm. The Early Voting Period is October 25 through November 2.

 —Compiled by Scott Stiffler

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ChelseaCommunityNews.com (CCNews) is an independent, single-owner online newspaper providing news, arts, events, and opinion content to Manhattan’s Chelsea community and its adjacent areas (Flatiron/NoMad and Meatpacking Districts, Hudson Yards, Hell’s Kitchen, Broadway/Times Square, and the Penn Station area).  Our editorial content is made possible by advertising revenue, grants, quarterly pledges of support, and voluntary reader donations (click here for our GoFundMe campaign). To join our subscriber list, click here to receive ENewsletters containing links to recently published content–as well as an occasional “Sponsored Content” email featuring an advertiser’s exclusive message. 

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