NYers Cast 430K Early Votes As 2022 Election Comes Down To Wire: BOE

NEW YORK CITY — Nearly 100,000 New York City voters made a last-minute dash to the polls Sunday to cast their ballots early amid a tighter-than-expected race for governor, data shows.

The surge Sunday brought the city's total early voting tally to 432,634, according to the city's Board of Elections.

General Election - Early Voting is complete!
•Manhattan –133,618
•Bronx – 39,069
•Brooklyn –135,239
•Queens – 88,840
•Staten Island – 35,868
Total Number of Early Voting Check-Ins 432,634*
*Unofficial & cumulative as of close of polls
— NYC Board of Elections (@BOENYC) November 6, 2022

The early voting tally is lower than the 1.12 million ballots cast ahead of 2020's presidential election, data shows.

But it also potentially shows a late surge of interest as the gubernatorial race between Democratic incumbent Kathy Hochul and Republican Lee Zeldin appears to be close. Zeldin has tried to drum up support in New York City, mainly by emphasizing a tough-on-crime message, as he tried to become the state's first GOP governor since 2002.

“She made decisions that have alienated a lot of New Yorkers, and even if they’re Democrats, they’re supporting us," he said about Hochul during a rally last week. “And as a consequence we are going to do well in New York City compared to Republican candidates in the past.”

Hochul in recent days has trotted out a spate of high-profile Democratic figures, from Vice President Kamala Harris to Hillary Clinton, to fire up what many observers have called tepid enthusiasm by her party's voters.

Former President Bill Clinton said during a recent rally that the governor's race could be decided by one borough.

“I’m telling you all this because the whole election could come down to how big the turnout is in Brooklyn,” he said, according to a Politico report.

The early voting tally ahead of Tuesday's election is much more than the roughly 87,000 and 76,000 early voters during the June and August primaries, respectively, according to the Board of Elections.

And 86,205 people voted early on Sunday alone, far surpassing the comparatively paltry totals from the first eight days, data shows.

Brooklyn led the early voting tallies among the boroughs, with roughly 135,000 ballots cast, Board of Elections data shows.

Election Day is Tuesday. Polls are open from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.