NYC Mayoral Race Chaos: Elections Board Retracts 135,000 Votes Due To ‘Discrepancy’

The Democratic mayoral primary was held in New York City on June 22, and 798,491 in-person votes were cast, according to The New York Times.

The Times’ results showed Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams, a pro-gun, pro-law enforcement candidate, in the lead with 253,234 votes, or 31.7 percent of the vote.

His nearest competitor was former civil rights attorney Maya Wiley, who received 177,722 votes, or 22.3 percent. Former city sanitation commissioner Kathryn Garcia finished a close third, with 155,812 votes (19.5 percent).

For the first time, the city had used an electoral process called ranked choice, which allows voters to select five candidates and to rank them in order of preference. The candidate who receives the lowest number of votes is eliminated and his or her voters’ second choice candidates receive their vote. In this way, a losing candidate’s votes are “redistributed” among the viable candidates.

Every time a candidate is eliminated, a new “round” begins. This process continues until only two candidates remain. The one with the highest total wins the race.

USA Today reported Wednesday that 11 rounds of “vote redistribution” had been conducted over the past week. Additionally, some, but not all, absentee and early voter ballots had been added to the totals.

On Tuesday evening, the New York City Board of Elections released interim results. Adams’ lead had been whittled down to just 16,000 votes, and Garcia had climbed into second place. The two had been apart by 97,422 votes.

Shortly after these results were released, a very alarmed Adams released a statement.