…just kidding, kids can’t vote.
But you can! And you should, if you want to avoid having your neighbors assume you’re a clueless transplant from the Midwest. Be the change you wish to see in the world, keep your rent from skyrocketing, or get a sticker.
And NYC is doing everything within its power to make sure you know that! The New York City Campaign Finance Board has a handy-dandy website filled with all the info you could possibly need, including rundowns of all the candidates, a link to check your registration and find your polling site, and all that good stuff.
In case the only thing you know about local politics is that Anthony Weiner is also Carlos Danger, here’s the deal: Today is the day that people who are registered members of a political party and registered to vote in NYC pick the person who will represent their party in the general election on November 5th. So after today, there will no longer be fourteen official mayoral candidates – there will only be one democrat and one republican, assuming that a single candidate within each party gets at least 40% of their party’s vote (if that doesn’t happen, we’ll have a run-off primary on October 1st to get things cleared up).
There are six things that we vote on in local elections in NYC: Mayor (a self-explanatory position involving lots of ribbon-cutting and living in a big house on the Upper East Side); Public Advocate, a watchdog position created a decade ago to liaise between City Council and the rest of city government; Comptroller, who bottom-lines the city’s finances; Borough Presidents, who take care of their respective boroughs; City Council Member for the district you live in within your borough; and District Attorney (the borough’s official prosecutor). You can handle six things, right?
Maybe? Okay. Well, we can still help you out. Here’s a list of who you’ll see on your ballots when you get to a polling station today, with links to their websites.
MAYORAL CANDIDATES
DEMOCRATS
Neil Vincent Grimaldi (no website)
REPUBLICANS
INDEPENDENT
PUBLIC ADVOCATE
DEMOCRATS
(No republicans running for this one!)
COMPTROLLER
DEMOCRATS
REPUBLICAN
BROOKLYN BOROUGH PRESIDENT
DEMOCRATS
Again, no republicans running for Brooklyn Borough President right now.
And then, we have the City Council member elections. this is where things get a little more complicated.
If you live in Bushwick, chances are you fall into one of two City Council districts: District 34, which includes part of some of Williamsburg, Bushwick and Ridgewood, and District 37, which includes East New York, Bushwick, Cypress Hills, City Line, Ocean Hill-Brownsville and Wyckoff Heights.
The candidates for the 34th City Council district are:
DEMOCRATS
Vito J. Lopez (no website)
Gladys Santiago (no website)
And the candidates for the 37th City Council district are:
DEMOCRATS
Heriberto Mateo (no website)
It’s also worth mentioning that the 34th district city council race is being closely watched throughout the city.
And last but not least, for District Attorney, the options are both democrats:
So if you happened to be a registered democrat, it looks like you have a lot of deciding that you get to do today! Unless you’ve already done it. And if you haven’t registered yet, get that done so you won’t get left out of all the fun when November rolls around! Polls are open until 9pm!!
Want to tell us a story from your polling station or an anecdote about your favorite candidate-themed food truck? Do you miss the Rent Is Too Damn High Party or wish that NYC was still like it was during the Dinkins administration? Drop us an email and tell us about it at bushwickdaily at gmail dot com!