NYC Board of Elections set to announce ranked choice first-round results for primary races

Political primary races that appeared too close to call last week after the polls closed are likely to get a little more clarity Wednesday when the Board of Elections releases its preliminary results from the first round of ranked-choice voting.

Those results are likely to shed light on who will emerge victorious in at least two races.

One of those is the Democratic primary for the 19th Council District in Queens, an office currently held by Republican incumbent Councilwoman Vicki Paladino.

The other is a Republican primary in the 13th district, which is represented by Dem incumbent Councilwoman Marjorie Velazquez.

Under ranked choice voting, voters can rank candidates in order of preference in races where there are more than two contenders. If no one secures a simple majority of votes from the No. 1 ranks, the candidate with the least support is eliminated.

The No. 2 picks on ballots cast for the eliminated candidate are then added to the mix until a single candidate nets a majority of votes and is dubbed the victor.

In the Queens primary for Council District 19, there are three candidates up for the Democratic nomination.

According to results posted on the city Board of Elections website, Tony Avella, a former Council member and state senator, is leading with nearly 39% of the total votes. But since Avella didn’t hit the 50% threshold needed to avoid ranked-choice voting, he and his primary opponent, Christopher Bae, who’s in second with 36.8%, are likely headed to a decisive ranked-choice stage.

A third candidate in that race, Paul Graziano, trails with just 23.6% of the vote and is likely to be eliminated under the ranked-choice rules.

The Republican primary in the Bronx features three candidates as well — Kristy Marmorato, George Havranek and Hasime Samantha Zherka. All of them ran under both the Republican and Conservative ballot lines. Under the Republican line, Marmorato is leading with 47.8% of the vote, with Havranek behind by about four points. He has 43.8%. Because neither has 50%, ranked choice is also likely to be a deciding factor there, with Zherka almost certain to be eliminated.

Under the Conservative ballot line, Marmorato surpassed the threshold, snagging 54.8% of the vote, which means ranked choice likely won’t be a factor when tabulating that party’s line.

Ranked choice will be run for all this year’s primary races, but probably will only be a decisive factor in a few based on the results posted by the Board of Elections so far. Certified results for all of the primary races are expected to be released by the Board of Elections on July 17, paving the way for this November’s general election.

Unfortunately — or fortunately — for others in close primary races, ranked choice probably won’t apply in their contests.

In what have shaped up into two of the biggest potential upsets, the Council races for District 9 in Harlem and District 42 in Brooklyn’s East New York, ranked choice likely will not factor because the leaders in those races have surpassed the 50% threshold — even if by the narrowest of margins.

In Harlem, Yusef Salaam, who’s best known for being wrongly accused in the 1989 Central Park Five rape case, is leading the field of contenders, having secured 50.14% of the vote in that race. Salaam faced off against Assemblymembers Inez Dickens and Al Taylor, who won 25.02% and 14.39% of the vote, respectively, according to the Elections Board.

Incumbent Councilwoman Kristin Richardson Jordan bowed out of the race, though her name still appeared on the ballot. She notched 9.42% of the total vote.

In East New York, challenger Chris Banks notched a similar piece of the pie, winning 50.54%. The incumbent in that race, Councilman Charles Barron trails with 43.2%.

When asked about how close Banks is to the ranked choice 50% threshold, Barron acknowledged that it probably still isn’t close enough to help him.

“It’s not going to go to ranked choice,” he said. “It’s irrelevant in our race.”

Still, Barron hinted that he’s likely to mount a campaign in 2025 to win back his seat.

“The fire will be alive in 2025,” he said.