Ranked-choice voting is offering scenes like two rival candidates cross-endorsing each other from across the street.  

“Vote me number one, vote that brother number two! Number two, number two! This is what democracy looks like!,” Al Taylor shouts, while Yusef Salaam campaigns on the same block.

What You Need To Know

  • There's no incumbent running in the race for Harlem City Council seat

  • Dickens, who held the seat in the past, is getting most of the institutional support

  • Taylor and Salaam have cross-endorsed each other in hopes to neutralize Dickens

  • Early voting turnout is low compared to June 2021

 

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Taylor is telling his supporters to have Yusef Salaam as their number two pick, and Salaam is returning the favor. 

Taylor, who’s served in the State Assembly for six years, and Salaam, one of the members of the exonerated Central Park Five, are trying to neutralize the third candidate in the race, assemblywoman Inez Dickens. 

At stake, the City Council seat that Dickens held for ten years.

“The reason I’m running is to make sure we bring resources and services that are not coming into this district under the current administration,” Taylor said.

And by current administration, he means Councilwoman Kristin Richardson Jordan, who was first elected two years ago and decided not to seek a second term.   

This Democratic primary has attracted the attention of high-ranking elected officials, with Dickens getting most of the institutional support, including Mayor Eric Adams’ endorsement. 

Salaam, on the other hand, is portraying himself as the change candidate. 

“I don’t want folks to forget that we voted them to do great work in the Assembly. If they remove themselves from that seat, that power that they hold in that seat is no longer there,” Salaam said.

“That is a selling point when you have no legacy, no experience, no knowledge, no negotiability to stand on,” Dickens responded to his rival’s argument.

On Monday, Salaam had some trouble voting early. He showed up at the wrong poll site, finally casting his vote an hour later at a different location.

Voting officials are recommending New Yorkers to double check their early voting site before leaving their home. 

So far, only 14,400 New Yorkers have voted early during the first three days of this process. 

In June 2021, when the mayoral primary was also on the ballot, that number was close to 44,000.