NEW YORK, N.Y. — Early voting closed Sunday afternoon with 690,526 ballots cast in New York City, an unofficial count from the city Board of Elections, setting up a Tuesday finish to the race for governor between Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul and Republican Bruce Blakeman.
City polling sites shut their doors at 5 p.m. Sunday after an eight-day early window. Across the state, the state Board of Elections put the early total at more than 1.7 million. Upstate counties contributed a large share, with the state board counting more than 1.1 million upstate early ballots through Saturday, including nearly 90,000 in Erie County and more than 87,000 in Monroe County.
Anyone who did not vote early has one chance left. On Tuesday, Nov. 3, voters must go to their normal assigned polling site, and polls close at 9 p.m.
City voters will see more than candidate races. Five citywide ballot questions ask whether to speed up approval of outdoor dining, cut paperwork for city contractors, streamline how bike and bus lanes are approved, simplify construction permits and set a target for the city’s reserve funds.
The two campaigns spent the last early-voting day in very different places. Hochul stayed in the city, starting at an Upper West Side diner and later appearing in Astoria, Queens, alongside Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Mayor Zohran Mamdani. Blakeman, the Nassau County executive, campaigned in Northport on Long Island alongside Suffolk County Executive Ed Romaine and Rep. Nick LaLota, and also stopped in Rensselaer and Oswego counties.
Both candidates pitched lower costs. Hochul pointed to a $1,000 tax break she introduced for families with a child younger than 4, while Blakeman promised to cut state income taxes and halve utility bills. Blakeman plans stops upstate and in Manhattan on Monday, and Hochul’s public schedule keeps her in the city.
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