NEW YORK – New York has always been on the blue side of the electoral map for having twice as many registered Democrats as Republicans and has become less friendly with Republicans over the past decade, thanks in part to population loss in North America. decline in New Yorkers identifying themselves as Republicans. Joe Biden decisively won the 2020 presidential election in the state. Democrats control the governor’s office and enjoy large majorities in both chambers of the state legislature.
New York’s main contest this November sees Democratic Governor Kathy Hochul run for the state to become the state’s first elected female governor against Republican Lee Zeldin of Long Island. Former Lieutenant Governor Hochul took office last year following the resignation of his predecessor, former Governor Andrew Cuomo, who resigned to avoid a probable impeachment trial. Hochul’s lead in opinion polls has shrunk in recent weeks.
Zeldin hopes his crime-fighting message will help him further narrow the gap and drive her out.
Hochul stressed his support for the right to abortion and action against climate change. He criticized Zeldin for supporting former President Donald Trump and for voting against certifying the 2020 election results. Zeldin said he would be in favor of appointing a state health commissioner against abortion and criticized the millions. dollars spent helping abortion providers amid an expected increase in out-of-state patients.
Republicans represent eight of New York’s previous 27 congressional districts ahead of the 2022 election, and New York will lose one of those seats. The Democrats attempted to create new federal and legislative political maps that would consolidate solid liberal majorities across the state. A northern state judge ended up ordering new sets of maps drawn by an independent court master, whose maps gave the Democrats a lesser advantage.
About a third of the New York House races are considered competitive, with Republicans playing in the races on Long Island and Hudson Valley. In one of the most-watched contests, US Representative Sean Patrick Maloney, the five-term Democrat who was supposed to lead his party’s bid to hold on to Congress, is struggling to survive in a Hudson River Valley district. A hotly watched race in upstate New York is in the Syracuse area, where Republican Representative John Katko will leave after four terms. That contest pits Republican and United States Navy veteran Brandon Williams against Democrat Francis Conole, a graduate of the United States Naval Academy and current captain of the United States Naval Reserve.
Over the past decade, Democrats have amassed large majorities in the state House and Senate after years of Republican control of the state Senate.
NIGHT OF ELECTIONS
Here’s what you can expect on election night:
The polls close at 9 p.m. ET.
HOW TO VOTE NEW YORK
New York has expanded absentee voting amidst the COVID-19 pandemic to allow voters to choose to vote by mail for fear of spreading the virus at the polls. A series of absentee votes in 2020 led to some long delays in the counting of votes. Lawmakers have passed a law requiring counties to begin drafting absentee ballots before election day in hopes of avoiding such delays. Republicans have challenged the law in court, but a state appeals court ruled against them, saying it would be “extremely disruptive” to abandon the new system with the vote already underway.
New York voters defeated an election referendum in 2021 that would change the state’s constitution to allow absentee voting without apology. The state constitution requires absentee voters to be absent from their county of origin, ill or physically disabled.
So far, about 552,000 absentee ballots have been sent with over 188,000 returned, according to the State Election Commission. Things happen quickly after the polls close. As the ballots have been in the country secretaries’ offices for weeks and are processed as they arrive, the results of much of the total vote are published within 90 minutes of voting closes. time.
About two-thirds of New York City’s voters are Democrats. Republicans enjoy the benefit of voter registration in New York’s western and northern counties. Republicans are also competitive on Long Island: about 30% of Nassau County voters are Republicans compared to 40% of Democrats, while 31% of Suffolk County voters are Republicans compared to 34% of Democrats.
New York has not elected a statewide Republican official from former Governor George Pataki, who served as governor from 1995 to 2006. For Zeldin to outrun Hochul, he will need to limit his loss margins in New York City and try to win. compared to independent voters in the rest of the state. Independent voters outnumber Republicans in New York.
OTHER IMPORTANT DATA ON THE ELECTORAL PROCESS IN NEW YORK
WHAT HAS CHANGED IN NY SINCE THE 2020 PANDEMIC ELECTIONS?
A new law passed in 2021 allows the election commission to begin processing ballot papers by correspondence before election day, although it cannot begin tabulating results until one hour before polling closes on election day. Previously, absentee votes could not be counted until seven days after election night. Mail order ballots accounted for 21% of 2020 votes in New York, but this will be a much smaller share this year.
New York lost a seat in the United States House of Representatives due to the reorganization of the congressional districts. The New York Assembly and Senate have also undergone reorganization. Population losses in the northern state and increases in the lower state can affect the balance of power in contests for congressional districts and the state senate. A further reorganization of state assemblies was mandated for 2024.
HOW ARE PARTICIPATION AND EARLY VOTING?
As of February 21, 2022, there were 12,982,819 registered voters in New York, including 6.47 million registered Democrats and 2.85 million registered Republicans. In 2018, early voting represented only 249,000 (4%) of the 6.2 million votes cast. 2020 saw a seismic shift towards early voting, with early voting accounting for 4.4 million (50%) out of 8.69 million votes cast.
Requests for absentee votes must be submitted by 24 October. The ballot papers by correspondence must be returned in person by 8 November; those sent by post must be stamped by 8 November and received by 15 November.
HOW LONG DOES IT USUALLY TAKE TO COUNT VOTES IN NY?
The first reports on the results of the New York City vote are expected at 9:05 PM ET. We expect results from the rest of the state to start coming in about 20 minutes later. These early voting totals likely reflect early and post voting. Returns will continue to arrive for the next few hours.
WHAT ARE THE ERRORS OF EARLY RETURNS?
The new electoral rules that allow faster tabulation of ballot papers by correspondence will have a major impact on the expected results. The first ballots will likely be a record of the advance and post votes. As with other recent contests, the use of mail order ballots has shown a partisan division, with Democrats much more likely to use mail order ballots than Republicans. This means that early results can be skewed to one side or the other depending on the types of grades reported.
WHAT HAPPENS AFTER THE MASS VOTE ON TUESDAY?
New York law provides for mandatory recounting if the margin of victory is less than 20 votes, less than 0.5% or, in a race where more than 1 million votes are cast, less than 5,000 votes. This would happen after the statutory audit of the state.
To see all about the mid-term elections in New York.
