Here’s everything to know about Tuesday’s primaries in New York, including when polls close, when results can be expected, who can cast a ballot, and how many days there are until the midterm elections.
When do polls close?
Polls close at 9 p.m. ET.
What’s on the ballot?
The Associated Press will provide vote results and declare winners in contested primaries for U.S. House, state comptroller, state Senate and state Assembly.
Who gets to vote?
Voters registered with a political party may participate only in their own party’s primary. Democrats may not vote in the Republican primary or vice versa. Independent or unaffiliated voters may not participate in either primary.
How many voters are there?
As of Feb. 20, there were about 13.4 million registered voters in New York, including about 6.4 million registered Democrats, about 3 million registered Republicans and about 3.4 million voters not affiliated with any party.
How many people actually vote?
About 899,000 Democratic primary votes and about 451,000 Republican primary votes were cast in the 2022 primaries for governor.
How much of the vote is cast early or by absentee ballot?
About 20% of the 2022 primary vote was cast early in-person or by mail. The figure rose to about 39% in the 2024 presidential primaries.
As of Sunday, about 277,000 ballots had already been cast in Tuesday’s election.
When are early and absentee votes released?
New York counties and New York City tend to release all or almost all of their results from early voting and most of their results from mail voting in the first vote update of the night, usually before any results from in-person Election Day voting are released.
How long does vote-counting usually take?
In the 2022 primary, the AP first reported results at 9:04 p.m. ET, or four minutes after polls closed. The last vote update of the night was at 3:11 a.m. ET with about 95% of total votes counted.
When will the AP declare a winner?
The AP does not make projections and will declare a winner only when it’s determined there is no scenario that would allow a trailing candidate to close the gap. If a race has not been called, the AP will continue to cover any newsworthy developments, such as candidate concessions or declarations of victory. In doing so, the AP will make clear that it has not yet declared a winner and explain why.
How do recounts work?
In New York, an automatic recount is triggered in races where more than 1 million votes are cast if the margin of victory is less than 5,000 votes. For smaller races, the automatic recount is triggered if the margin of victory is 20 votes or less or 0.5% or less of the total votes cast. The AP may declare a winner in a race that is subject to a recount if it can determine the lead is too large for a recount or legal challenge to change the outcome.
Are we there yet?
As of Tuesday, there will be 133 days until the 2026 midterm elections.
