Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams holds a slim lead in the Democratic primary for New York City mayor, the elections board said Wednesday, after it mistakenly included “test” ballots in its attempt to process ranked choices one day earlier.
A corrected count released Wednesday shows Mr. Adams, the Brooklyn borough president and a retired police captain, leading former Sanitation Commissioner Kathryn Garcia, 51.1% to 48.9%, although roughly 125,000 absentee ballots still must be counted, leaving the final result in limbo.
Progressive contender Maya Wiley trails Ms. Garcia by nearly 350 votes but is eliminated for now under the new system, which allowed voters to rank up to five candidates to succeed Mayor Bill de Blasio, a term-limited Democrat.
The elections board cut low-performing candidates and reallocated their votes until two candidates, Mr. Adams and Ms. Garcia, remained.
Mr. Adams enjoyed a double-digit lead after early voting and Election Day on June 22, only to see Ms. Garcia substantially close the gap.
“While we remain confident in our path to victory, we are taking nothing for granted and encourage everyone to patiently wait for over 124,000 absentee ballots to be counted and included in the ranked-choice voting tabulation. Every vote is important and deserves to be counted,” Ms. Garcia said.
SEE ALSO: NYC election officials retract vote-count report amid ranked-choice confusion
Ms. Wiley, who dropped from second place to third, said the election is “still wide open” because of the large number of outstanding absentee ballots.
“That’s why following yesterday’s embarrassing debacle, the Board of Elections must count every vote in an open way so that New Yorkers can have confidence that their votes are being counted accurately,” she said.
Election officials released a ranked-choice tally on Tuesday, only to realize it included about 135,000 ballot images used for testing in the count.
Observers pointed to a mismatch between the initial count and overall vote tallies from Election Day, prompting the election board to issue a late-night statement promising a fix.
“Board staff has removed all test ballot images from the system and will upload election night results, cross-referencing against election night reporting software for verification,” the elections board said. “The board apologizes for the error and has taken immediate measures to ensure the most accurate up-to-date results are reported.”
The mishap sowed doubts about the count and fueled former President Donald Trump’s claims of fraud at the national level.
Even before Tuesday’s error, some voters were confused by the system or thought it took too long to spit out results. With absentee votes still to be counted, the process could last until mid-July.
Whoever wins will face GOP nominee Curtis Sliwa — the founder of the Guardian Angels safety patrol group — in November and enjoy frontrunner status in the liberal city.
The Republican National Committee threw salt in New York’s wound on Wednesday.
RNC Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel said the liberal city cannot manage a basic contest even as Capitol Hill Democrats push a “federal takeover” of elections and the Biden administration sues Georgia over its election rules.
“This is what happens when Democrats run elections: incompetence, fraud, confusion, and ballot insecurity,” she said. “Republicans have been fighting for common-sense election integrity reforms to prevent the very problems on display in New York City.”
Mr. Trump, meanwhile, said “nobody will ever know who really won” the Democratic primary for New York City mayor after tabulation mistakes by election officials sent the race into chaos.
Mr. Trump connected the fiasco to unproven grievances around his 2020 loss.
He said Mr. Adams may not win despite a clear lead after the No. 1 choices were counted June 22, a charge that reflects his belief winning candidates should be known on Election Night.
“The Presidential Race was a Scam and a Hoax with numbers and results being found that are massive, shocking, and determinative. Watch the mess you are about to see in New York City, it will go on forever. They should close the books and do it all over again, the old-fashioned way, when we had results that were accurate and meaningful,” Mr. Trump, who is banned from Twitter, said in a written statement from his Save America political action committee.
He fine-tuned his complaint hours later.
“The New York City Election, even though an embarrassment and total mess, is far better and more accurate than my 2020 Presidential Election — so what are people complaining about!” he said.
Mr. Adams wasn’t impressed by the ex-president’s cries.
“As always, Trump gets it wrong. Yesterday, the results released by the BOE had discrepancies which are being addressed. There were NO similar issues in November. Neither of these elections were a hoax or a scam,” Mr. Adams tweeted. “We need to count every vote. That takes time, and that’s OK.”
• Tom Howell Jr. can be reached at thowell@washingtontimes.com.
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