Don’t Forget To Vote On Tuesday! Here’s How.

Photo: Zainab Iqbal/Bklyner

BROOKLYN – Primary elections are tomorrow, and in Brooklyn, Primary is the election that matters! Why? In a heavily Democratic county, the November election just rubber stamps the primary election’s selections as residents tend to vote down the line for Democrats.

On the ballots this year, we have contested seats from the President down to local district leaders.  People we elect will be the ones to lead us – the city, the county, the state, and the country – out of this crisis and through recovery, and while we always should exercise our right to vote, we really need to make sure that the best candidates for the job get selected – and in Brooklyn that will happen on June 23.

Primaries are notorious for low turnout, and this year matters are further complicated by the current pandemic restrictions and the fact that many of those who requested absentee ballots are yet to receive them. It looks like it will take a good while to tally up what could be close races in some districts.

While you can always find out more about the candidates, and for incumbents – their voting record, on Ballotpedia.com or vote411.org, NY1 has the best local election coverage leading up as well as on election night – so follow along. Gotham Gazette has deep dives if a bit hard to find on their site (they also have podcast episodes with candidates), City & State is a must read, and THE CITY also has compiled useful primers for the races.

New York Times believes both Representatives Jerry Nadler and Carolyn Maloney should be returned to Congress, however, they endorsed as they did back in 2018,  Adem Bunkeddeko over Representative Yvette Clarke for Brooklyn’s 9th Congressional District, which spans from Park Slope to Sheepshead Bay. Bunkeddeko was just 2,000 votes short to win the seat last time.

The Democratic primary race for State Assembly in District 43 has been heating up between the incumbent Diana Richarson and Jesse Hamilton. In a list of endorsements by Assemblymember Rodneyse Bichotte, who is also the head of the Kings County Democratic Party, every incumbent running in the State was endorsed, except for Assembly Member Diana Richardson, the Daily News reported. In 2018, then-Senator Jesse Hamilton ran against Zellnor Myrie and lost, but he won the part of the district that overlaps with Richardson’s Assembly seat, and the former senator is eager to be back in the legislature.

To find who’s on the ballot for you, and where you can vote, you can use https://nyc.pollsitelocator.com/. Don’t forget to vote!