Robust Brooklyn turnout drives mayoral election numbers

Voters during a lull Tuesday afternoon at Brooklyn Borough Hall. Photo: Mary Frost, Brooklyn Eagle

DOWNTOWN BROOKLYN — Brooklyn was a juggernaut on election day, with 478,909 recorded votes by 3 p.m., according to the Board of Elections. Manhattan had logged roughly 95,000 fewer votes than Brooklyn at that time, and Queens, the Bronx and Staten Island even less.

The total vote count by 3 p.m. was a hefty 1,451,942, including early voting check-ins, BOE said. More than 102,000 mail-in ballots would also be counted.

Poll worker Maria Cardenas; Dr. Sandra Chase, District Leader of Assembly District 52; and Inspector Mary Lark said voter turnout was solid at Brooklyn Borough Hall. Photo: Mary Frost, Brooklyn Eagle

The hard-fought contest between the Democratic nominee Zohran Mamdani, former Gov. Andrew Cuomo and the Republican candidate Curtis Sliwa seemed to electrify voters.

“I’m hopeful,” Brooklyn Heights resident Kristina, who voted at the 101 Clark St. polling site, told the Brooklyn Eagle. “I feel like there’s excitement in the air, and people are hoping for a change.”

Inside 101 Clark St., the crowd started “bumpy” then became steady, a poll worker said. By midafternoon, 602 votes were logged between the two machines. “This is a small site. Before, we used to have four tables. Now we just have two since they opened the library,” she added.

By midafternoon, 602 votes were logged between the two machines at 101 Clark St., a small polling site. Photo: Mary Frost, Brooklyn Eagle

The mood was upbeat. “Everyone is so nice here,” another satisfied voter said as she left the site.

At the Urban Assembly Institute of Math and Science for Young Women polling site on Adams Street in Downtown Brooklyn, election volunteer L. Johnson said voters were coming in “at a horse-trotting pace.”

“We’re getting a handful at a time, 20-25 an hour, more or less,” she said. The “severity of intensity” seemed bigger this year, Johnson said. “A lot of people are seeing the election differently. Some seem disappointed that they’re not on the [registered voter] list.”

Business was booming at the Brooklyn Heights Library polling site, with five voting machines totaling 1,1185 votes by roughly 4 p.m. Photo: Mary Frost, Brooklyn Eagle

Traffic was steady all afternoon at another small venue, the Cadman Towers polling site on Cadman Plaza West, an election monitor said. The two machines totaled 327 voters by 3:30 p.m., a good number considering “they sent a lot of people to the library this year,” she said.

Business was booming at the Brooklyn Heights Library polling site, with five voting machines totaling 1,185 votes by roughly 4 p.m. “We’re getting a good crowd,” the manager said.

Turnout was also solid at Brooklyn Borough Hall, according to poll worker Maria Cardenas; Dr. Sandra Chase, District Leader of Assembly District 52; and Inspector Mary Lark.

These helpful signs helped voters find their polling places on Tuesday. Photo: Mary Frost, Brooklyn Eagle

“By 9 a.m. we had over 200,” Cardenas said. By 2:30 p.m., the machines had logged 644 votes, and this was before the evening rush, Dr. Chase added.

An exit poll taker from Edison Research outside the Borough Hall site told the Eagle there wasn’t enough data by midafternoon to see a definite trend, but the morning survey seemed to show voters were “leaning Mamdani,” and that included voters of all ages. “But you never know.”

A familiar scene on Brooklyn streets during this year’s mayoral vote. Photo: Mary Frost, Brooklyn Eagle