Nearly two million New Yorkers voted before Election Day even arrived. Unofficial figures released on Monday by the New York State Board of Elections show 1,965,043 early in-person votes cast across the state during the nine-day early voting period from October 24 through November 1 — a rise of about 67 percent on the 1,178,676 early votes cast in the 2022 midterms, and a surge election officials and both parties are reading as a sign of an unusually motivated electorate heading into Tuesday's vote.
Source: New York Post via Internewscast
WAMC Northeast Public Radio, reporting the same State Board of Elections tally on Monday evening, put the increase at 67 percent compared with 2022, when just under 1.2 million New Yorkers voted early and in person. The figures are unofficial and may shift slightly as counties finish reporting, but the scale of the jump is not in dispute.
Source: WAMC Northeast Public Radio
New York City: 690,526 early votes, borough by borough
New York City recorded 690,526 early votes, compared with 432,634 in 2022 — an increase of about 60 percent, according to the city Board of Elections' official check-in tally. Brooklyn led the five boroughs with 219,536 early voters, followed by Manhattan with 188,434, Queens with 162,914, the Bronx with 67,630 and Staten Island with 52,012.
Source: NYC Board of Elections
For the large Punjabi and South Asian communities in Queens — in neighbourhoods such as Richmond Hill and Jackson Heights — and in Brooklyn, the city numbers mean a substantial share of the community's vote is already banked before polls open on Tuesday. Election officials stress, however, that early totals show only who has voted, never how anyone voted: no ballot is counted as a result until polls close.
Outside the city, the rise was even bigger
Early voting in the suburban and rural counties outside New York City rose about 70 percent, climbing from 746,042 votes in 2022 to 1,274,717 this year. WAMC reported that voters outside New York City and Long Island accounted for about 46 percent of the state's early turnout — a reminder that this year's surge is a statewide story, not only a city one.
Source: WAMC Northeast Public Radio
The North Country race where early voting more than doubled
The sharpest increases came in the 21st House District in the North Country, the red-leaning seat being vacated by retiring Republican Representative Elise Stefanik, which has become one of the most competitive congressional races in the state. Early voting more than doubled in four counties in the district compared with 2022: Clinton County rose from 3,930 votes to 7,323; Essex County from 1,457 to 3,460; Oneida County from 8,682 to 17,363; and St. Lawrence County from 2,681 to 6,375.
Source: New York Post via Internewscast
The contest drew national attention on Monday, when Vice President JD Vance campaigned in the district alongside Anthony Constantino, the Republican candidate backed by President Donald Trump, who owns a sticker and decal printing company. He faces Democrat Blake Gendebien, a dairy farmer, in Tuesday's vote.
Hudson Valley heat, and the statewide races on the same ballot
Turnout also rose sharply in the closely contested 17th House District in the lower Hudson Valley, where two-term Republican Representative Mike Lawler faces Democrat Cait Conley, an Army veteran. Rockland County, part of that battleground, recorded 44,184 early votes. At the top of the statewide ballot, Democratic Governor Kathy Hochul is seeking re-election against Republican Bruce Blakeman, the Nassau County executive; Republican Saritha Komatireddy is challenging two-term Democratic Attorney General Letitia James; and Republican Joseph Hernandez is running against four-term Democratic Comptroller Tom DiNapoli.
Source: New York Post via Internewscast
State Democratic Party Chairman Jay Jacobs said after reviewing the figures: “It looks promising for the Democrats. I'd rather be us than them.” State Republican Party Chairman Ed Cox urged caution in reading the numbers: “We have been urging early voting. Republicans have been coming out in great numbers.” (Both statements as reported by the New York Post.)
Why the surge — and what it does not prove
Early voting is still comparatively new in New York — the state introduced it only in 2019 — and analysts note that in 2022, the first midterm with the system, voting took place in the shadow of the COVID-19 pandemic, which may have discouraged some in-person voting. Even allowing for that, officials on the ground describe a distinctly energised electorate this year. Alison McLean Lane, the Democratic commissioner of the Albany County Board of Elections, told WAMC that the voters she has spoken to have been, in a word, “motivated,” adding that she has seen “tons of new voters, people that have come in that haven't voted in years, that said this is important.”
Source: WAMC Northeast Public Radio
The caution both parties' strategists repeat is that a bigger early vote is not a result. New York does not release how early voters voted, party-registration breakdowns of the state tally were not part of Monday's release, and a strong early showing by one side can still be overtaken by Election Day turnout — which is exactly what both campaigns will spend Tuesday trying to deliver.
What happens next: Election Day, Tuesday November 3
Polls are open statewide on Tuesday, November 3, from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m. New York City voters must vote at their assigned Election Day poll site — which can differ from their early voting site — and can find it through the city Board of Elections' Find My Poll Site tool; the state Attorney General's office is also running an election protection hotline for problems with mail or in-person voting. Unofficial early-vote totals may be adjusted as late county reports arrive, and the first actual results will only begin to appear after polls close at 9 p.m.