New York Times: Why We May Not Know Who Won the Mayoral Primary for Weeks

The New York City primary election is on Tuesday, but it could be weeks before we find out who won the top contest — the Democratic primary for mayor.

Given the electoral makeup of the city, the winner of that contest is highly likely to be elected mayor in November. On Tuesday night, we should find out which candidate is leading among the ballots cast in-person on Primary Day and during nine days of early voting.

But election officials must then wait for tens of thousands of absentee ballots to arrive, and those will need to be counted as well.

And there is a new wrinkle this year that makes the timeline more complicated: The city is using ranked-choice voting for the first time in a mayoral race. Only New Yorkers’ first-choice votes will be counted right away, but their other choices could potentially be decisive. …

The city’s Board of Elections has received about 220,600 requests for absentee ballots, and in a closely fought race like this one, those votes could make a difference. More than 82,000 people have filled out and returned their absentee ballots so far.

And perhaps more significantly, we cannot assume that the candidate who is winning after first-choice votes are counted on primary night will end up victorious. Another candidate could win more second- and third-choice votes and overtake that candidate.

That’s why proponents of ranked-choice voting are urging New Yorkers to be patient.

“Democracy takes time, and every vote counts,” said Susan Lerner, the executive director of Common Cause New York, a good government group. “Accurate and fair election results are worth waiting for.”