More than 445,000 New York City voters flooded the polls Tuesday despite punishing heat — as a crowded field of mayoral candidates duked it out for the Democratic nomination.
Some 446,487 New Yorkers had cast their ballots as of 6 p.m. — three hours before polls closed — with the total turnout coming to a whopping 876,472 when including mail-in and early voting tallies, the city Board of Election said.
An influx of 120,000 votes flowed in just between 3 p.m. and 6 p.m., the BOE numbers showed, with many more expected to come out after work hours — putting the total on pace to meet 2021’s roughly a million ballots.
Election workers in some cases were armed only with paper fans – and no air conditioning — to meet the throng of voters as temperatures outside reached nearly 100 degrees in the record-breaking hottest day of the year.
“What’s one day sweating if it’s gonna help people?” said Queens voter Dhyan Rajami, who cited high rents as his most important issue — one that has taken center stage in the crowded Democratic mayoral primary.
“I feel like it [voting] had to be done. I care about getting people the resources they need and it’s going to be hot the rest of the summer,” said Rajami, a supporter of Democratic socialist Zohran Mamdani.
Another voter at air conditioner-less Russell Sage High School in Forest Hills made her voice heard despite suffering heat-related health issues earlier in the day.
“It’s absolutely horrible, I had an asthma attack on the way to work,” Jada, 48, told The Post. “But all day long I’ve been thinking about voting.”
At the Taylor Wythe Community Center polling site in Brooklyn, staffers and voters languished without AC and little water — as the indoor temperature clocked in at 99 degrees in the afternoon.
“I just turned 75, I shouldn’t even be out in this kind of heat,” a worker, who did not want to be named, said. “We’ve been here since 5 a.m. It’s cooler outside than it is in here.”
Some workers who live in the NYCHA building went upstairs to get fans from their own homes with the BOE only delivering handheld paper fans for comfort.
“It’s hot as the devil in here,” another poll worker said.
Later in the afternoon, city Emergency Management workers parked an MTA bus outside the site so poll workers could cool off inside on their breaks.
Earlier in the day, panic temporarily set in at Frank Sinatra High School in Queens when the heat and humidity caused ballots to stick together, leading to signal issues with scanners.
The poll site coordinator told The Post they made it work, but the momentary snafu left them “on edge.”
Candidates were also sweating for every last vote as they made 11th-hour pleas for support.
Mamdani and City Comptroller Brad Lander — who cross-endorsed each other earlier this month in a bid to stymie former Gov. Andrew Cuomo — made a final joint appearance at the 72nd Street subway station on the Upper West Side.
The 33-year-old Queens assemblyman scoffed at Cuomo dismissing a new poll that showed the two hopefuls in a near dead-heat after the former governor had led the pack for months.
“Ultimately, what he’s having a hard time getting to grips with is that we are exactly where we want to be,” Mamdani said.
Lander called the joint partnership with Mamdani “something really remarkable” and made clear the top goal was to “add votes together to block Andrew Cuomo.”
“So that we don’t wind up with a corrupt, abusive, bitter, sour politics of the past,” he said, pulling no punches.
The primary is expected to come down to how Lander’s votes split between Mamdani and Cuomo once the comptroller is eliminated from one of the final rounds of ranked-choice voting.
Prior to the cross-endorsement, the majority of Lander’s votes were falling to the ex-gov, but the Emerson College/PIX11 poll released Monday had the ballot breaking for Mamdani, putting him over the edge in the eight round.
Lander’s message was echoed by state Attorney General Letitia James — an arch rival of Cuomo since her office investigated the sexual harassment claims against him that led him to resign in 2021.
James slammed Cuomo in a primary day robocall, accusing him of failing the black community.
“When you vote today, please rank five candidates for mayor. But do not make Andrew Cuomo one of them,” James said.
But Cuomo appeared confident as he voted on the 5th floor of the Art and Design School in Midtown East while accompanied by two of his daughters and his son-in-law.
“It all comes down to today and people have to vote,” he said. “If you look at history, when people don’t vote and only a small number of people vote that’s when you get outcomes that the majority disapproves of.”
He also waved off the heat — which had been believed to work against him as much of his centrist voter base skews older.
“Is it a little warm today? It’s a little warm,” Cuomo insisted. “Is it oppressively hot like they said? I don’t believe so.”
Mamdani’s campaign, meanwhile, has been propelled by younger New Yorkers and celebrities, including model Emily Ratajkowski, despite his freebie-filled socialist agenda widely being panned as far-fetched.
“We know it’s hot, but the time is now,” Ratajkowski posted to her 29 million Instagram followers Tuesday while wearing a “Hot Girls For Zohran” T-shirt.
Other races on the ballot included primaries for comptroller, public advocate, Manhattan borough president and several City Council races.
The full results of the ranked-choice primary are not expected until July 1, as only the first round totals will be tabulated on Tuesday night.
One notable name missing from the mayoral primary ballot was Mayor Eric Adams, who is a registered Democrat but is running for re-election on an independent line in the November general election.
The winner of the Democratic nomination will face off then against Adams, GOP candidate Curtis Sliwa and independent candidate Jim Walden. Even if they fail to cinch the Dem nomination, Cuomo and Mamdani could still appear on the general election ballot on different party lines.
Adams still voted at his Brooklyn polling site Tuesday and claimed, perhaps jokingly, he was writing in his name in five times.
“One, two, three, four, five – Eric Adams,” he said. “Five times. I’m looking forward to November.”
— Additional reporting by Georgett Roberts, Zoe Hussain, Mikella Schuettler and Reuven Fenton
