Confusion gripped the battle for mayor of New York on Wednesday after electoral authorities deleted preliminary results that showed race candidates dwindling.
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The New York State Board of Elections released a new vote tally for the Democratic primary on Tuesday, the key contest that will select the post-pandemic mayor of the Big Apple.
With 86% Democrats among New Yorkers affiliated with a party, it is assumed that the winner of these primaries will be victorious on November 2 in the general election and will succeed Bill de Blasio, in office since 2014 and currently extremely unpopular.
The unofficial count showed that two female candidates had gained ground over front-runner Eric Adams, the former police officer who now presides over the Brooklyn borough.
But on Tuesday night, the board posted a tweet saying there had been a “discrepancy” in the results of the ranked vote.
The numbers were removed from its website and replaced by a message saying that the results would be released “as of June 30”.
The board later issued a statement explaining that the tally had included “the results of the night of the test and the election,” generating “approximately 135,000 additional registrations.”
The body apologized for the error and said it would recount the ballots for the election.
The board “has taken immediate steps to ensure that the most accurate updated results are reported,” he added.
New York City is using rank-and-file voting for the first time in a mayoral election.
The new system asked voters to choose up to five candidates in order of preference.
Early primary results on June 22 showed Adams, a moderate, ahead with more than 30% of the vote.
Maya Wiley, a civil rights attorney, was second with about 22%, while Kathryn Garcia, another moderate, had about 19%.
Results released Tuesday and then eliminated showed Adams only slightly ahead of Garcia, with Wiley in third place. They correspond only to votes cast in person. It remains to count tens of thousands issued by mail.
Unless a candidate gathers more than 50% of the votes from the start – a highly unlikely scenario – the candidate who came last is eliminated, and their votes are redistributed towards the second option on that ballot. And so with the rest, until a candidate exceeds 50%.
This system may not produce a clear winner until mid-July.
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