Nearly a quarter of NYC’s early voters were new Democratic primary participants

More than double the number of New Yorkers cast ballots during the nine days of early voting compared to four years ago, including a substantial number of first-time voters, according to a new analysis of turnout data.

A total of 385,184 New Yorkers voted early in this primary election, compared to 191,197 in 2021.

Nearly 25% of early voters had not voted in a Democratic primary at any point between 2012 and 2024, according to an analysis of voter history by John Mollenkopf, director of the Center for Urban Research at the CUNY Graduate Center. That makes them new participants in this type of election, even if they may have voted in other races before.

Those figures represent a significant change from the 2021 Democratic mayoral primary, when 3% of early voters had never voted in a Democratic primary.

“Clearly, there has been a large jump in first-time Democratic primary voters in 2025,” Mollenkopf told Gothamist.

Early voting ended on Sunday. The last chance to vote is Primary Day, scheduled for Tuesday.

Board of Elections data covering all nine days of early voting showed that young voters between the ages of 25 and 34 made up the largest share of the turnout. Gothamist first noted the trend last week.

The trend would seem to favor state Assemblymember Zohran Mamdani, who has made mobilizing young and first-time voters a key campaign strategy.

On Monday, a new poll showed Mamdani defeating Andrew Cuomo, the former governor, after eight rounds of ranked-choice tabulation. The Emerson College poll showed Mamdani beating Cuomo 52 to 48, boosted by support from younger voters.

Cuomo sought to downplay the importance of youth turnout in early voting on Sunday.

“I think you've seen a high turnout across the board of the numbers that I hear, and that's a good thing,” said Cuomo. “The higher the turnout, the better. I think you will see a high turnout because I think New Yorkers are scared and they're worried.”

Rich Azzopardi, a spokesperson for the Cuomo campaign, called the latest poll “an outlier.”

“Every other credible poll in this election — including two released last week — has shown Governor Cuomo with a double-digit lead, which is exactly where this election will end tomorrow,” Azzopardi said in a statement. “Between now and then, we will continue to fight for every vote like he will fight for every New Yorker as Mayor.”

In a statement, Mamdani said the poll was a sign that New Yorkers were uniting around his vision.

“I am thankful to the many supporters who have volunteered and cast their votes for me during early voting, but we cannot stop here,” Mamdani said. “With one day left until Election Day, it is essential that we turn out in record numbers in order to turn the page on Andrew Cuomo, his billionaire donors and the politics of big money and small ideas.”

Board of Elections data showed no substantial shifts in the location of high voter turnout throughout early voting. The busiest poll sites during the first days of early voting remained busy through Sunday.

Brooklyn’s Assembly District 52 – which includes neighborhoods like Brooklyn Heights, Downtown Brooklyn and Cobble Hill – continued to dominate, with 18,447 casting their ballots early.

Voters between the ages of 25 and 34 had the most early votes, accounting for nearly a quarter of the overall total with 90,372. Assembly District 57, which encompasses Clinton Hill and Fort Greene, had the highest number of early voters from this age group, with 5,779.

Still, some analysts were skeptical that the overall electorate was dramatically increasing.

Evan Roth Smith, cofounder of Slingshot Strategies and a pollster for former city Comptroller Scott Stringer’s mayoral campaign, said the primary election four years ago relied heavily on absentee ballots because of the pandemic. He said he expects the overall turnout to be higher than 2021, when more than 940,000 Democratic voters cast ballots, but not by a historic amount.

“ The numbers that we're seeing now in the early vote are reflective of a more modest growth, 10% increase in turnout, rather than some sort of revolution in democratic participation in New York City, which would be wonderful, but I don't think is what we're seeing,” said Roth Smith.

Grace Acevilla, 30, of Ridgewood, Queens, cast her ballot on the final day of early voting. She said she ranked Mamdani first and hoped the crowds at her poll site were indicative of higher turnout overall.

“I'm hoping that this turnout of people who might not normally be voting in primaries are people who are voting for [Mamdani],” she said.

Catalina Gonella contributed reporting.