Early Voting In NYC Starts Saturday: What To Know

NEW YORK, NY — After weeks of ups and downs in the mayoral race and sidewalk canvassing by City Council candidates, it's finally here: early voting in New York City's primary elections starts on Saturday.

Early voting will continue through June 20. If you don't get a chance to vote during those nine days, you can head to the polls on Election Day: Tuesday, June 22.

Your assigned polling place for early voting might be different from your Election Day site, so double-check by entering your address here.

On the ballot will be the Democratic and Republican candidates for mayor, City Council, public advocate, city comptroller and borough presidents. The Manhattan district attorney's seat will also be open.

Here are a few basic things to know from our guide to voting in this primary:

Wait, am I registered?

No registration, no vote.

You can check your voter registration here.

New Yorkers who previously registered to vote are permanently registered unless they moved outside the city or county of registration. Inactive voters who haven't voted in any election, including two consecutive federal elections, and haven't confirmed their addresses during that time are no longer registered.

If you're not currently registered, sorry, but you're out of luck — registration for the primary ended May 28.

Oh, there's also a catch — only voters who have registered with the Democratic, Republican, Conservative and Working Families party affiliations can nominate those parties' candidates in the primary. The deadline to switch parties was Feb. 14.

OK, I'm registered and have a party affiliation. When can I vote?

June 22 is the official primary election day. Polls are open from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m. You can find your poll site here.

But voters who want to cast their ballots beforehand can do so between during the early voting period between June 12 and June 20.

Early voters can find their poll site here.

Voters can also request an absentee ballot online or by mail, so long as they do so by June 15. They can apply here. (People can also request absentee ballots in person at elections offices by June 21.)

Absentee ballots must be postmarked by June 22.

I'm voting. What's this ranked-choice business?

Simply put, voters can rank up to five candidates in order of their preference.

Voters can still only choose one candidate if they prefer — under the ranked-choice system voters can rank as many or as few candidates as they want.

The main catch is voters can't rank the same candidate more than once.

When votes are counted, the candidate with more than 50 percent of first rank votes automatically wins. But if there's not such a candidate, then counting will continue in rounds that eliminate candidates with the fewest votes. When there's just two candidates remaining, the one with the most votes wins.

Will ranked-choice actually make a difference?

Most likely.

There are eight Democratic candidates — Eric Adams, Shaun Donovan, Kathryn Garcia, Ray McGuire, Dianne Morales, Scott Stringer, Maya Wiley and Andrew Yang — considered top-tier.

None of those candidates appears likely to get 50 percent of the primary vote outright, so voters' second-, third-, fourth- and fifth-choice picks could make a big difference.

Click here for a sample ballot.

More information can be found at the NYC Board of Elections website.

Patch reporter Matt Troutman contributed.