More than 70% of voters who fully ranked five candidates in New York City’s Democratic mayoral primary left Andrew Cuomo off their ballots, according to newly released data from the city’s Board of Elections.
The D.R.E.A.M. campaign drove the omission, or “Don’t Rank Evil Andrew for Mayor,” which urged voters to complete all five ranked-choice slots while leaving out Cuomo. The campaign circulated signs and videos across the city, resulting in 376,418 voters submitting thoroughly ranked ballots that excluded Cuomo.
Some voters still ranked Cuomo. About 8% of the 469,018 voters who chose Zohran Mamdani first also included Cuomo on their ballots. Despite trailing Cuomo in pre-election polls, Mamdani won the nomination through ranked-choice vote rounds.
The November general election’s candidates are Incumbent Mayor Eric Adams, Republican nominee Curtis Sliwa, and Socialist Zohran Mamdani.
Roughly 1.11 million voters participated in the primary, the city’s second use of ranked-choice voting in a mayoral race. Nearly half used all five ranking slots.
