Heat Wave To Hit NYC As Voters Hit The Polls. Here's How To Cast A Ballot Safely.

By Samantha Maldonado, The City

June 20, 2025, 2:32 p.m.

A heat wave is slated to hit New York City just in time for the last days of voting in the primary election.

City officials, mayoral candidates and experts encouraged voters to hit the polls early or during the cooler hours of the day and take precautions to stay safe in the heat.

The National Weather Service is predicting high heat and humidity from Sunday through Wednesday, with temperatures that may feel as hot as 105 degrees. The predicted high for Tuesday, election day, is 94 degrees.

Air-conditioned cooling centers will be open to the public on Sunday, when the high is expected to be 99 degrees, and on Election Day.

Heat waves are expected to become more frequent and last longer in New York City — just one example of how climate change threatens not just public health, but democracy itself, according to Karen Florini, senior fellow at the nonprofit Climate Democracy Initiative.

“As the climate continues to warm—which it will continue to do as we put more heat-trapping gases into the atmosphere-we — we’ll see more and more circumstances where people will be disenfranchised by climate change,” Florini said. “We’ll see more and more extreme weather events — not just heat, but floods and storms and hurricanes — and we’ll see more and more disruptions of not just voting, but the whole election cycle.”

Florini said it’s hard to determine whether the heat wave will have an effect on voter turnout or the outcome of the election.

She encouraged the use of voting by mail — ballots must be postmarked by Election Day — and said people voting in person should bring a water bottle, a hat, an umbrella and a fan with them when they vote, in case they encounter lines.

Some New York City polling locations also house public cooling centers, but not all of the city’s 1,213 polling sites are equipped with air conditioning. The New York City Board of Elections and NYC Emergency Management said they will deploy fans at polling sites that need them, make sure electricity stays on and provide water.

“Our top priority is the health and safety of our poll workers, voters, and the proper functioning of our poll sites,” BOE Deputy Executive Director Vincent Ignizio said in a statement. “While voters generally spend only a few minutes at a polling place, our poll workers serve on the front lines for up to 17 hours.”

New Yorkers can now also pass out water to people waiting in line to vote, after a federal judge last year overturned a state law that banned providing food and water to voters waiting in line. (Attention, Larry David.)

The Brooklyn branch of the NAACP had filed the lawsuit that led to that ruling.

“This weekend's weather is one of the prime examples of why we brought this,” said L. Joy Williams, president of the Brooklyn NAACP.

Handing out water and supplies to voters “creates an atmosphere that the community cares about your vote and participation,” she added.

The state legislature this spring passed a bill to repeal the section of New York’s election law that bans offering food or drink to voters waiting in lines to vote.

Sen. Zellnor Myrie (D-Brooklyn), the Senate sponsor of the bill and a mayoral candidate, said, “Voting is a civil right, not an endurance contest.”

Other mayoral candidates in the Democratic primary encouraged voters to get to the polls early. Former Gov. Andrew Cuomo, a frontrunner in the race, called on the city to hand out water and install air conditioning at polling sites. Volunteers for Assemblymember Zohran Mamdani (D-Queens) will provide tents, snacks and water, his campaign said.

Anyone looking to pass out water or heat-beating provisions to voters must abide by the Board of Election’s rules against electioneering — that means no soliciting votes or passing out, wearing or carrying political posters, banners, buttons or t-shirts within 100 feet of a polling site.

Hot weather leads to the deaths of over 500 New Yorkers on average each year.

“Extreme heat can be a serious public health risk in communities already facing health and housing challenges, so it’s important for New Yorkers to know their cooling options, check in on neighbors who may be more vulnerable to heat illness, and prepare now, so they’re ready for the warmer days ahead,” said Emergency Management Commissioner Zach Iscol in a statement.

This press release was produced by The City. The views expressed here are the author’s own.