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Overlapping City Council Elections

By Stephen RealPosted on Posted in Elections, Local

AN UNUSUAL SITUATION – OVERLAPS FOR THE MARCH 23RD SPECIAL AND JUNE 22 PRIMARY ELECTIONS FOR BRONX COUNCIL DISTRICT 11

For Bronx City Council District 11 residents, two election calendars for the City Council seat are overlapping!  Let’s look at why that is happening, and clear any confusion.

There is a special election underway now to fill the Council District 11 seat that became vacant when former City Council Member Andrew Cohen resigned last December after being elected to the Bronx Supreme Court.  

THE SPECIAL ELECTION WILL BE HELD ON MARCH 23RD, AND THE TERM FOR THE CANDIDATE WHO WINS THE ELECTION WILL END ON DECEMBER 31, 2021.

  • EARLY VOTING for this election will begin on MARCH 13th and will end on MARCH 21ST.
  • You can also vote by ABSENTEE BALLOT by requesting an absentee ballot no later than MARCH 16TH (but it’s recommended that you request it as soon as possible if you are interested in voting by absentee ballot.)

Since the winner of this special election will only serve through the end of Calendar 2021, the winner, along with anyone who would like to run in the regular 2021 election, must circulate petitions to get on the primary ballot.

  • The circulation of petitions for candidates who want to run in the June 22nd primary started the first week in March, and will continue for several weeks in March.
  • You can sign a petition for the candidate of your choice for the June 2021 primary regardless of whether or not they are candidates for for March 23rd Special Election, and you can sign a petition for a candidate you are supporting, even if you signed a different candidate’s petition for the March special election.
  • THE CANDIDATE WHO WINS THE JUNE 22ND PRIMARY ELECTION WILL BE THE DEMOCRATIC NOMINEE FOR THE CITY COUNCIL SEAT IN THE NOVEMBER ELECTION.

One more reminder – both the March 23rd special election and the June 22nd primary will use RANKED CHOICE VOTING.

  • With Ranked Choice Voting you can vote for a few as one candidate, or as many as five candidates in the order of your choice.
  • If no candidate wins more than 50% of the total votes cast in the special or primary election, there will be one or more rounds of redistributing votes until a candidate reaches the more than 50% vote requirement.
  • How does this work? If second or later rounds are required, for each round the candidate with the fewest votes is dropped, and all of their second-place votes are added to the voting tallies of the remaining candidates.
  • This means that establishing who won the election could take several rounds of dropping the last place candidate and redistributing their second-place votes.
  • In any event, as counting the ballots cannot begin until all the military and overseas ballots and mailed ballots are received, we may not know who won the election until two or more weeks after the election takes place.  

While this may be a little confusing, we urge to vote in both the MARCH 23rd Special Election and the regular JUNE 22nd Primary. LET YOUR VOICE BE HEARD!

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