Snow falls on the steps of Bronx Borough Hall on Tuesday, Feb. 13, 2024.
Photo Emily Swanson
A snowy special election day is nearly over for Bronxites, who have been heading to the polls on Tuesday to fill the state Assembly District 77 seat in small numbers.
According to information from the New York City Board of Elections, as of 3 p.m. on Feb. 13, there had only been 722 check-ins for the special election — which includes the 272 who checked in during the early voting period. Those 722 check-ins represent only 1.13% of the district’s active registered voters.
The seat was vacated following the resignation of Latoya Joyner, who announced on the first day of the 2024 legislative session that she was leaving the Assembly to pursue an opportunity in the private sector. State Assembly District 77 encompasses the neighborhoods of Claremont, Concourse, Mount Eden, Highbridge and Morris Heights.
At the Bronx Borough Hall poll center on Tuesday afternoon, Beverly Mills, the site coordinator, told the Bronx Times that only 10 people had shown up to vote in person by about 1:30 p.m.
“I feel the weather’s got a lot to do with it,” she said. Mills also attributed the lack of in-person voting to the nine-day early voting period, which she said cuts down the flow on Election Day.
Further south, at the Hostos Community College polling site, there had only been two in-person voters all day by 2:30 p.m.
Voter turnout is generally low in the Bronx, as demonstrated by the November 2022 gubernatorial and congressional elections, as well as last November’s citywide races. In November 2023, even the heated City Council District 13 race — where now-Republican Council Member Kristy Marmorato beat Democratic incumbent Marjorie Velázquez — only yielded a 4.4% voter turnout by around 3 p.m. on Election Day.
The special election’s concurrent winter storm — the heaviest snowfall in New York City in more than two years — is likely…
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