Dear Editor,

NEW York City-based Guyanese are urged to vote on Tuesday, June 22, in the primary of the city’s mayoral election. Polls open at 6 AM and close at 9PM.
The in-person New York City Primary election is on Tuesday, June 22, for those who have not already voted in early voting. The primary election selects the candidate (nominee) who will represent a party in the general election the first Tuesday in November. Only party members (those who are registered as a member of a party) can vote in the primary within their party to choose the nominee. Most Guyanese are registered as members of the Democratic Party. The Republican Party also holds a primary to select its nominee.
A dozen candidates are seeking the Democratic Party nomination. A candidate must garner over 50 per cent of the votes in order to win the nomination. Since New York is largely a Democratic city, the Democratic nominee of the June 22 primary is likely to become Mayor in November.
Opinion polls suggest that no candidate is likely to garner 50 per cent of the votes in the primary. In the past, there was a runoff between the top two candidates. This year’s primary has ranked choice voting of candidates. Voters can rank up to five choices on the ballot. In the ranked-choice system, no vote goes to waste and every vote helps to determine the winner.

If no candidate gets cent in the first ranked-choice, then the second choice kicks in to determine if the candidate crosses the 50 per cent threshold. If not, then the third choice kicks in, and then the fourth choice, and then the fifth choice until a candidate crosses the 50 per cent threshold.
According to the latest opinion poll, Eric Adams, A Black American, is the front runner as he has been over the last four months with some 23 per cent first-ranked support, followed by Kathryn Morales, a Hispanic/White American, with 16 per cent and others trailing. An analysis conducted by a newspaper a month ago suggests that Eric Adams would win the nomination with 52 per cent of various ranked choices, followed by Andrew Yang, a Chinese-American, with 48 per cent. Since then, Kathryn Morales has moved up in the polls and was almost neck and neck with Adams as the first-ranked choice two weeks ago. She also has a very good chance of winning the nomination with the varied rankings. Andrew Yang has slipped in support as has Scott Stringer, a Jewish-American, who led the poll a few months back.
Guyanese-Americans from Queens, and Indo-Caribbean and South-Asian groups have endorsed Adams.

Yours sincerely,

Vishnu Bisram