Road To Nowhere

A few years ago, David Byrne — a New York City mascot who once had a band — took a planned break during his Broadway run of “American Utopia” to ask everyone in the audience who had actually voted in the most recent local election.

Of all the eligible local voters in the audience (hi tourists, thanks for spending your money in my beautiful city), a small percentage of people raised their hands. He then began reciting statistics about voter turnout, especially noting the way that people of his generation — baby boomers — run laps around mine in voting for the future direction of our city.

This plea from Byrne rattles around in my mind every day as NYC approaches the Democratic mayoral primary on June 24. The future of the city I love will be decided by a small portion of residents, even though every person who lives here is constantly complaining about The State Of Things.

The second mayoral debate is coming up this Thursday, June 12. Residents will be able to see for themselves whose vision for the city they intend to endorse. You can also get a pretty strong look at each candidate’s position on NYC’s hottest topics in this New York Times project from April.

While I certainly see the value in posting pro-voting and pro-candidate Instagram Stories, I come to my fellow residents with a sincere request in the final days before primary voting begins. Please talk to people in-person about their plan to vote. Talk to your friends who, unlike me, have jobs that keep them off the internet all day.

Personally, I use “when was the last time you voted” as a first-date question. It sometimes kills the vibe — I don’t care: voting in local politics is important to me in the same way that the Talking Heads are important to me. Instill and encourage that idea that civic participation is what hot people do. We all yearn for hotness. Nothing says hot like an “I Voted!” sticker in a perfectly lit selfie.

This plea is obviously directed at NYC residents, but local elections all over the country are just as important — if not more important — than our mayoral voting here.

So, here are a few logistics for city residents who are considering voting in the primary: This is a closed primary, so if you are registered as an independent (as I was), you don’t get to vote. The deadline to change your affiliation to Democrat was February 14th. If you missed that deadline, you’re not an eligible voter in the primary.

The final day for general voter registration is June 14. You can register to vote — or check your registration status — on the Board of Elections website.

I just checked mine again. I’m eligible. Hot community-minded girl summer begins June 14.

Recently, The City, an independent non-profit outlet that provides the robust local coverage that has largely been scrapped by traditional media aside from the New York Post, analyzed voter data in my big, dumb city.

The City cites a report from UC San Diego that found that NYC ranks “49th for turnout among big U.S. cities.” The people who choose to live here have a bad habit of acting like it’s the only city on Earth. So why do so few people get up and go to the polls?

“Of the more than 4.9 million active registered voters for the general election [in 2021], only 1.147 million cast votes, according to the [Campaign Finance Board] data,” said The City’s writeup. “That’s just 23% of eligible city dwellers who actually exercised their right to vote.”

That year’s Democratic primary reached a slightly higher 26% turnout. I’m anxiously (and cynically) waiting to see how the numbers shake out in this year’s primary.

Here’s what The City says about age-bracket turnout — the most significant factor in NYC elections:

The average age of a 2021 primary voter was 54, although the average age of a registered voter is 49, according to the CFB. (The median age of a New York City resident is 38.8, per the latest Census data.)

Older New Yorkers were the most likely to vote, according to the CFB numbers, with people between the ages of 70 and 79 turning out with 37% for the 2021 primary and nearly 38% for the general election. The next highest voting bloc was voters between the ages of 60 and 69.

As for people who are younger than me despite me still being Cool and with it… yikes.

“The lowest voter turnout in 2021 was among people ages 18 and 29; nearly 18% voted for the primary, and just 11% voted in the general election.”

David Byrne, a 73-year-old guy, is right to grandstand about this problem. My only wish is that he had also spread this message during his recent appearance during Olivia Rodrigo’s set at Gov Ball. God, it really is brutal out here.

The race to be the Democratic nominee for mayor this year is, in my cohort, a top topic of interest. There are a few reasons for this. First, Eric Adams, elected by less than 1 in 4 voters in 2021, seems destined for single-term status. Secondly, Andrew Cuomo, whose name recognition and family legacy glosses over many of his actual administrative and policy weaknesses, seems destined to be the next mayor.

Everyone in my life is talking about Zohran Mamdani all the freaking time. I believe he represents hope for politicians with radical, progressive platforms within and beyond New York City.

There’s the hype around Zohran being young, charismatic, and presenting left-wing dreams of a better New York. His groundswell campaign is often likened to the one that put Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez in public office, though she only needed to convince a district, not the five boroughs.

Mamdani’s run is also triggering my Obama hope trauma; I was 18 years old in 2008 and really believed our country could pivot from the Bush years. I don’t want to talk about the rest. But my biggest concern about Mamdani’s campaign isn’t that he’s inexperienced or that it would be difficult to make mean online posts about because he’s really good looking. My fear is that Z-mania will not translate to actual voter turnout this month.

Polling released this week indicated that the primary race between Mamdani and Cuomo is getting shockingly close. There is at least the possibility that Cuomo gets beaten in the primary. This wouldn’t be a death knell for either politician though: Cuomo could enter the general election as an independent, or Mamdani could run under the Working Families Party line.

Still, this primary and the election to follow seems like the ultimate test of voter turnout. There’s the well-known, New York politician royalty candidate who has a deep hold in key demographics that produce turnout. Then there’s the hotshot ascendant candidate whose base is made up of people who, historically, haven’t bothered to participate in the levers of our democracy. At this point, I would just be impressed if Mamdani actually jolted the voter turnout dilemma

I worry that the eligible voters who attend his rallies and canvass for him (mostly in areas where he’s already likely to have a firm base of support) won’t actually show up to vote — or may not know that the deadline to register as a Democrat was four months ago. To Mamdani’s credit, I learned of the February 14 date because his team posted online about it incessantly. A lot more people have started paying attention since then, though.

There’s a real push by many New Yorkers to keep Cuomo out of office — and for good reason. He was a brutal boss in Albany, is accused of sexually harassing multiple women, and fought Bill de Blasio tooth and nail over the city’s resources versus the state at-large. As governor, he actively made it more difficult to create a more equitable New York City. Now he wants to walk to the other side of the table and represent our interests.

The problem here is two-fold: One, the other primary candidates are less than a week out from the start of early voting and have failed to present themselves as an anti-Cuomo coalition. They are gently suggesting “anyone but Andrew,” but are still all individually vying for the chance to topple him in the primary. Their polling numbers are laughably low. Mamdani currently seems like the only other candidate who stands even a distant chance of that.

These candidates have an opportunity to radically change the way we think about politics and campaigns — moving from an individualistic approach to an egos-aside pooling of their bases and resources. They’ve so far squandered this opportunity to present a united front so that they can gloat over effectively convincing like, 2% of eligible voters to rank them first on the ballot.

Secondly, Cuomo doesn’t just have name-recognition. He has a solid base of true New Yorkers who are not online freaks like those of us in Z-ville. Many people in this city actually want an experienced administrator (regardless of how chaotic and cruel he served in that administrative position) and trust his politicking more than they worry about his multi-faceted shittiness.

This election really, really matters. We’re talking about NYC continuing to be its “own thing” in America. We’re talking about choosing a mayor who will actively fight back against the Trump administration and uphold our city’s legacy and values as a place that welcomes diversity, immigration, and firm independence. This is what is at stake in this election: the lives of our most vulnerable residents.

It’s already bad enough that it’s nearly impossible to live here if you don’t have generational wealth or live in an apartment that will flood every single year. Somehow, it could get worse. Our future as a city is soon to be determined by our next mayor, and this future will be decided by roughly 1-in-4 eligible voters.

Please get to the polls this month. Rank your ballot according to your own priorities, but just submit a ballot at all. Hot people vote. Moral superiority about civic participation is a slay. Talk to people about their plan to vote. Don’t disappoint David Byrne. If you do, he might just break up your band, too.

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