4 Races To Watch In Today's New York Primary

Plus: Live updates of trouble at the polls [View this email in your browser]( [Politics Brief from WNYC + Gothamist] [Keep friends and family informed. Forward the Politics Brief.]( Today Is Primary Day In New York. Here Are Four Close Races To Watch. By [James Ramsay]( [A door attendant sits outside the entrance to a polling station inside the Brooklyn Museum as early voting continues, Tuesday, June 16, 2020] John Minchillo/AP Though New York's Democratic presidential primary was postponed, then canceled, and then scheduled again, June 23rd was always set to be Primary Day for congressional and statewide contests. Now, these primaries are all happening today. Polling places are open until 9 p.m., complete with face mask requirements and floor markers to help people stay socially distanced. Absentee ballots postmarked by today will also be counted. Here's a brief overview of some of the closer races happening around the state. A Conservative Pastor Vs. A Handful Of Progressives In The South Bronx In New York's 15th Congressional District, left-leaning Democrats including City Councilmember Ritchie Torres, State Assemblymember Michael Blake, and democratic socialist Samelys Lopez are all vying for the seat being vacated by Rep. José Serrano. But a recent poll conducted by the progressive group Data For Progress found that City Councilmember Rubén Díaz Sr., a Pentecostal minister with a long record of homophobic positions, was leading the race in early June. Could the most Democratic district in the country (according to the [Cook Partisan Voting Index]( end up with a representative who called himself "the opposite of AOC" because a deep field of progressive candidates [ends up splitting the vote]( In The Bronx And Westchester, A 73-Year-Old White Incumbent Is Being Challenged By A 44-Year-Old Black School Principal Democratic Rep. Eliot Engel, a 16-term incumbent who hasn't faced a serious primary challenger in over a decade, is going into today's election trailing his opponent, according to [a recent Data for Progress poll](. (The poll was funded by Engel's opponent.) As we mentioned in [last week's Politics Brief]( this race in New York's 16th District has turned into a massive proxy war, with Engel racking up a list of big endorsements from Democratic establishment figures, including Hillary Clinton, Rep. Nancy Pelosi, and Rep. James Clyburn. Jaamal Bowman, the former middle school principal who's challenging Engel, has been endorsed by Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Sen. Bernie Sanders, and Sen. Elizabeth Warren. While Engel has faced some criticism from the left for his [staunch support of Israel]( WNYC's Arun Venugopal said the energy behind Bowman has been less about rebuking Engel's record, and more about [the excitement]( around a new, more liberal representative for a majority-minority district. A Former IDC Member, A Progressive Lawyer, And A Pharma Heir Battle It Out In The Hudson Valley In New York's 17th District, which includes parts of Rockland and Westchester Counties, 83-year-old Democratic Rep. Nita Lowey is stepping down after this term. And while the district is likely to stay in Democratic hands, Lowey's replacement won't necessarily come from the progressive wing of the party. State Sen. David Carlucci, a former member of the Independent Democratic Conference — a breakaway group of Democrats who caucused with Republicans — had a slight lead in this primary, according to [a recent survey](. His main challengers are Mondaire Jones, a New York Times-endorsed lawyer who would be the first openly gay Black member of the House, and Adam Schleifer, the son of a billionaire pharmaceutical company founder. Schleifer has turned the race into one the most expensive in the country, largely by spending his own money on ads. A Buffalo Republican Has A Primary And A Special Election On The Same Day After Republican Rep. Chris Collins resigned last year — a day before [pleading guilty]( to insider trading — the Republican Party put State Sen. Chris Jacobs in his place. Today, Jacobs will face Democrat Nate McMurray in a special election to determine who will represent the 27th Congressional District for the remainder of the term. Additionally, Jacobs is running in today's primary contest for the Republican nomination in the November general election. On that front, [he's facing challenges from two candidates]( who've accused him of being a moderate and not a committed enough Trump supporter. Jacobs, a former New York secretary of state, was [endorsed by the president]( earlier this year. In addition to these congressional races, there are [about 30 primaries at the state level]( where Democratic incumbents are facing challenges from progressive insurgents, notably in parts of Brooklyn and Queens. Because so many New Yorkers are voting by mail, it could take a while before the final results are announced — especially in tight contests. For more information on voting in the primary, [check out today's guide on Gothamist](. Live Primary Updates: Voters Are Reporting Trouble At The Polls Since early this morning, Gothamist and WNYC have continued to receive reports of voting snafus from across the city. Many people said they received just one page of a two-page ballot that includes the presidential primary. Some have reported just receiving the page containing the congressional races, or vice versa. And others said they received the wrong ballot altogether. Additionally, some polling sites are seeing longer-than-expected lines, and there have been reports of poll workers not allowing New York City residents to drop off their absentee ballots in person, which is something voters are allowed to do. If you're planning to vote in person today before the 9 p.m. closures, wear a mask, be safe, [check Gothamist's live blog]( for the latest updates, and report problems by calling 866-687-8683. You can also reach out to New York Attorney General Letitia James' office at 1-800-771-7755, or election.hotline@ag.ny.gov. New Jersey Rejected Almost 10% Of Mail-In Ballots Last Month. Will The July Primary See A Similar Meltdown? In New Jersey's exclusively mail-in election on May 12th — which included school board contests and other special elections in 31 municipalities — state officials disqualified 9.6% of the ballots that were mailed in. Of the ballots that were rejected, nearly 25% of them had signatures that allegedly did not match the signature on record. Other reasons for not counting ballots: They were mailed in too late, the certificate wasn't signed, or the certificate wasn't returned at all. In order to prevent this from happening in the July 7th statewide primary, when millions of people are expected to vote by mail (all registered Republicans and Democrats were sent mail-in ballots), the state has agreed that anyone whose ballot is rejected will be notified and given a chance to confirm their identity and get their vote counted [by July 23rd](. With signature matching in particular at the forefront of concerns over [racist voter suppression practices]( activists in New Jersey are calling for the above protocol to be codified into state law. Shennell McCloud, head of the Newark-based group Project Ready, wrote in an op-ed that she also wants to see a law passed that would provide state funding for educating residents on how to correctly vote by mail. In addition, McLoud said her group "has received complaints from residents of apartment complexes whose ballots were dumped in a pile in an entryway, rather than placed in their mailboxes last month." So she's also calling for the U.S. Postal Service to take greater responsibility for delivering ballots directly to people's mailboxes, and early enough so voters have time to fill them out and return them before the deadline. "Increasing mail-in balloting is one of — if not the most — important actions that New Jersey can take to create a more equitable voting system," she said. "However, voting by mail does bring up additional issues that need to be addressed for the system to work effectively and equitably." ([NJ Spotlight]( So You Want To Vote For Sanders. Voting For His Delegates Is Where Things Get Tricky. [Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., speaks remotely during a virtual Senate hearing] Win McNamee/AP With over 2,000 pledged delegates so far, Joe Biden has what he needs to secure the Democratic Party's presidential nomination. But since [Bernie Sanders and other candidates]( had their names restored to the New York primary ballot, some Sanders supporters have been eyeing this election as an opportunity to [give Sanders' delegates some sway]( at the Democratic National Convention. To make that happen, enough people in a given congressional district need to vote for Sanders in order to get him over the 15% threshold. That'll enable at least some of his delegates to go to the convention. The next step is to vote for delegates pledged to support Sanders. But as [this useful explainer in The Guardian]( points out, "Sanders' delegate candidates aren’t running against Biden’s delegate candidates — they’re running against each other." Say that Sanders has six delegate candidates listed in your district, and he then wins 100% of the vote there. The math in this case is easy — all six of those delegates will be headed to the convention. But if, for example, Sanders and Biden split the vote in your district, only half of the Sanders delegates — the ones with the most votes out of the group — will get to go to the convention. And even though they're all Sanders supporters, they're not interchangeable bots — they're actual people with differing views. "If you’re a progressive," The Guardian explains, "the strategic thing to do is to identify the most left-leaning delegate candidates on the Bernie slate and, separately, on the Biden slate." In other words, if Biden and Sanders are both sending some delegates to the convention, you maximize your ideological impact by looking up who all these delegates are and giving a boost to a few of your preferred names from each camp. By filling in the bubble next to all the delegates pledged to a given candidate, you'd effectively be canceling out your preferences for which delegates get picked. [the logo for Brian Lehrer's politics podcast] A Tale Of Two Rallies While Trump held an in-person rally in Tulsa, The Poor People's Campaign convened a virtual rally to set an agenda to address systemic injustices. Support WNYC + Gothamist Make a donation to support local, independent journalism. Your contributions are our largest source of funding and pays for essential election coverage and more. [Donate]( Copyright © 2020 New York Public Radio, All rights reserved. Our mailing address is: New York Public Radio 160 Varick Street New York, NY 10013 [unsubscribe]( [update preferences]( [privacy policy](