Queens leads at the polls after first two days of early voting for June primary election

A voter casts his ballot at the Museum of the Moving Image on June 18, 2023.

Photo by Gabriele Holtermann

Queens saw the highest voter turnout in the first two days of early voting for the June 27 primary election, which kicked off June 17.

New York City’s turnout thus far has been low with just over 15,000 voters heading to the polls this past weekend, excluding Staten Island, which does not have a primary election this cycle.

Though turnout throughout the city has been abysmal, Queens had the highest two-day turnout with 4,694 voters, according to early voting check-in data from the city’s Board of Elections. Brooklyn was not far behind, with 4,080 voters turning out. Manhattan saw 3,900 voters over the first two days of early voting, while the Bronx had only 3,075 voters tallied.

One of the early voting sites in Queens, the Museum of the Moving Image (MoMI) in Astoria, covers two city council districts. 

District 22, represented by incumbent Councilwoman Tiffany Cabán, who faces challenger Charles Castro, and District 26, represented by incumbent Councilwoman Julie Won, who faces challenger Hailie Kim.

According to poll workers at the site, people were coming in “in dribs and drabs,” and 40-50 voters had cast their votes as of Sunday afternoon. 

“I would say most people start coming in around like the fourth or fifth day [of early voting], weirdly enough,” a poll worker shared with QNS. “You would think most people would come in on the weekends, but weirdly enough, they come in during the weekday right after work.”

Voters Ben Miller and Rashmi Singh live in Woodside and took advantage of early voting. 

“I’m dedicated to the voting process and I want to make sure I can’t possibly miss a voting opportunity,” Miller said. 

Rashmi Singh said early voting made it much easier to cast the ballot than on the actual voting day. 

“Often, there are long lines. People have to get to work. There’s bad weather,” Singh said.”I…