Democracy will be hot.
Thousands of New Yorkers are set to head to the polls Tuesday to cast their ballots in the hotly-contested mayoral primary election — but it’ll be another week before voters learn who will be the Democratic nominee.
Polls citywide are set to open at 6 a.m., with the temperatures reaching a sweltering 102 degrees before voting ends at 9 p.m. in what is shaping up to be the hottest day of a heat wave.
A staggering 400,000 New Yorkers already cast their ballots during the early voting period of June 14-22.
But the winner of the ranked-choice mayoral primary contest — pitting former Gov. Andrew Cuomo and Democratic socialist Zohran Mamdani — won’t be announced until July 1, the city Board of Elections has said.
When do polls close?
The more than 1,200 polling sites around the city will open their doors at 6 a.m. on Tuesday, Primary Election Day, and close at 9 p.m.
Follow The Post’s live updates from the NYC mayoral primary as frontrunners Cuomo and Mamdani battle for the Democratic nomination
Voters will have to brave the scorching heat to cast their votes, with temperatures expected to reach record-breaking levels.
The scorching temps could handicap frontrunner Cuomo’s comeback bid, as it might lower turnout among his supporters, who tend to be older and more moderate.
The dark-horse hopeful, Mamdani, has cut into Cuomo’s commanding lead over the past few months, narrowing the gap to about 10 points, according to recent polls.
One poll from Emerson College Polling/Pix 11/The Hill released Monday even had him winning by a narrow 2-1 margin in the eighth round of ranked-choice voting.
Also running for the Dem nomination are: City Comptroller Brad Lander, City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams, state Sens. Zellnor Myrie and Jessica Ramos, former comptroller Scott Stringer, the Rev. Michael Blake and businessman Whitney Tilson.
When will we learn the results?
Once polls close, results should start pouring in every five minutes with updates coming from each of the voting locations.
The Board of Elections says results should be in by 10 p.m. — sort of. New Yorkers will actually only learn how each candidate performed in the first round of voting on Tuesday night.
It will take the BOE another week to tally up the rest of the ballot answers and ultimately declare a winner.
What happens next?
Over the next week, BOE employees will collect the approximately 3,600 hard drives voting machines at each of the polling locations — and then run through the rank-choice voting results.
A winner is selected once they nab more than 50% of the vote. That result is slated to be released on July 1, by 12 p.m., the BOE said.
Under ranked-choice voting, New Yorkers list their top five candidates and the candidate with the lowest number of top picks is eliminated.
Their votes are then divvied up among the remaining candidates based on voters’ second choices, and so on, until just one person remains with the majority of the ballots.
The process could prove to be a boon for Mamdani, who has cross-endorsed with two of the other candidates, Lander and Blake, in an attempt to grow his voter base.
Cuomo shockingly convinced Ramos to effectively end her own campaign and back his bid, though she had previously referred to him as an aging man with a failing memory.
If candidates lose the primary, can they still run in the general election?
The winner of the Democratic primary will secure a prominent position come November, but some of the losers are expected to continue their campaigns, creating a chaotic, extended election season.
If Cuomo fails to hold onto his lead, after being the frontrunner for months, the ex-gov has filed petitions to run on an unnamed independent line on the general election ballot.
The left-wing Working Families Party is expected to ride the momentum of Mamdani’s campaign and give him their line in the general election.
They will take on Republican presumptive nominee Curtis Sliwa, independent Jim Walden and incumbent Mayor Eric Adams, who has yet to iron out the kinks in his independent bid.
Follow The Post’s coverage of the NYC mayoral race
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Who are the candidates running for NYC mayor against Eric Adams?
Follow The Post’s live updates from the NYC mayoral primary as frontrunners Cuomo and Mamdani battle for the Democratic nomination
What else is on the ballot?
Two other citywide offices will be on the ballot Tuesday, including primaries for comptroller and public advocate.
The borough presidents, district attorneys and councilmember races will also be on the ballots, varying by location.
