Democratic primary turnout in New York’s largest cities didn’t top 30% as record temperatures pushed some voters to sit out mayoral contests — including several where the winners will likely cruise to victory in November.
The lackluster turnout provided fresh evidence for people calling for changes to the state’s election laws — including a new structure that would open primaries to unaffiliated voters.
Roughly 29.8% of voters cast ballots in Albany, where City Auditor Dorcey Applyrs bested three rivals to succeed Mayor Kathy Sheehan. In Buffalo's Democratic mayoral primary, state Sen. Sean Ryan beat acting Mayor Chris Scanlon by 10 percentage points, with around 24.5% of voters turning out.
Incumbent Rochester Mayor Malik Evans easily bested challenges from Councilmember Mary Lupien and businessman Shashi Sinha, with just 18.7% of enrolled Democrats voting. In Syracuse, Deputy Mayor Sharon Owens secured more than 60% of the vote — with voter turnout of 17.6%.
And In New York City, slightly less than 30% of Democrats cast ballots in a hotly contested mayoral primary, according to preliminary data. Assemblymember Zohran Mamdani finished first on election night, but the nomination will be formally decided by ranked-choice voting over the coming weeks.
He would face Mayor Eric Adams, who is running in the general election as an independent, and Republican candidate Curtis Sliwa in November. It’s also possible Andrew Cuomo, who conceded the primary race to Mamdani on election night, will continue his campaign on a third-party line.
Democrats hold an overwhelming enrollment advantage in each upstate city, so winning the party nomination all but assures a general election win. Albany hasn’t had a Republican mayor in more than a century. Libby Post, a longtime political consultant who was a senior adviser to Applyrs, said the heat turned off some voters, but a good campaign was able to break through.
“There’s voter apathy, but if you have the ability to reach people and give them a reason to turn out — they’ll turn out,” she said. “But you have to grab people by their heartstrings.”
Others had a dimmer view of the effort. Albany didn’t have an incumbent on the ballot and there were 2,000 fewer voters than in 2017, when Sheehan bested two primary challenges. That contest took place before the state allowed nine days of early voting.
Tim Hoefer, executive director of the nonpartisan advocacy group Unite NY, said low turnout has been normalized. He favors legislation that would let any voter who isn’t a member of a party to choose a major-party primary and cast a ballot, which is allowed in more than three dozen other states.
“We don't have the participation that's representative, already. Which is why it's such a big deal to lock out so many more voters,” Hoefer said.
A half-dozen people organized by the group stood outside a polling place in Albany late Tuesday waving signs that asked independent voters to honk. Several voters signed petitions urging lawmakers to change the law and open up primaries.
One was Susan D’Entremont, a 58-year-old librarian in the city who grew up in Massachusetts and Wisconsin. She didn’t enroll in a political party in those places, but said she signed up as a Democrat in Albany because it was the only way she could have a voice in city governance.
“I think it's important, especially as fewer and fewer people are registered as Democrats or Republicans, there's fewer and fewer people that can have a voice in New York state and local politics,” she said.
Less than 30% of eligible voters have participated in each New York City mayoral election since 2009, according to the New York City Charter Revision Commission. It included several options for open primaries in a preliminary report issued last month and is now holding hearings. The options include allowing voters in any party to choose which primary they want to vote in, or a “jungle” primary in which all voters select among candidates in all parties and a set number of top candidates advance to the general election.
“Open primaries have been shown to increase electoral competition and encourage candidates to appeal to a broad cross-section of voters, but opponents of open primaries argue that political parties should maintain greater influence over how party nominees are selected, and that changing the existing system would weaken parties’ civic engagement and voter education roles,” the report says. “And crucially, the Commission must carefully consider the impact of any proposed change on minority and marginalized communities.”
Unaffiliated voters are more likely to be younger, according to an analysis by CUNY professor John Mollenkopf.
Acknowledging the problem of lower turnout in off-year elections, Democratic lawmakers in 2023 enacted a law to shift races for county executive and town supervisor to even years. Republicans objected and filed a lawsuit, but courts have upheld the statute so far.
New York State Democratic Committee Chair Jay Jacobs said he would listen to open primary proposals in areas like New York City, but said he was generally skeptical of opening up primaries to other voters — possibly including Republicans.
“Parties should be able to choose their own standard bearers. And that's why I'm not favoring open primaries at all — certainly not in upstate New York or in the suburbs,” he said.
Post, the Albany-based consultant, agreed.
“If you want to be part of a primary, join a party,” she said.
Experts say more competitive elections drive turnout, which was certainly the case in Albany, Buffalo and New York City. In Rochester, few people bothered to vote because the incumbent felt invulnerable, according to Monroe County Legislator Rachel Barnhart.
“What we've seen in Rochester over the last decade is you're seeing a dwindling number of prime voters. … These are hyper-engaged voters, and that number is consistently going down,” said Barnhart, a former journalist who backed Lupien. “I think this should concern all of us as it relates to democracy.”
