A lone voter casts her ballot at P.S./I.S. 49 in Middle Village. There was steady stream of voters, though, poll workers said, totaling almost 300 by 7 p.m. Tuesday. Forum Newsgroup photo by Jeremiah Dobruck.
Congressional candidates across Queens put a heavy focus on getting out the vote in Tuesday’s rare June primary.
The effort was more successful for some than for others, with most Queens candidates winning by wide margins, but overall turnout remained low.
In the 6th District, the only Congressional district completely within Queens, only about 25,000 Democrats cast votes for Assemblywoman Grace Meng, Assemblyman Rory Lancman, City Councilwoman Elizabeth Crowley or Dr. Robert Mittman.
Meng won the race by fewer than 6,000 votes, yet that number was enough to give her a 20 percentage point advantage against the runner-up Lancman.
The race between Assemblyman Hakeem Jeffries and Councilman Charles Barron garnered much hand wringing and warnings from Democrats and Jewish communities in the last weeks of the contest.
That may have paid off by earning the battle the highest turnout in the city.
Still, just more than 35,000 Democrats cast ballots in the race, but it was enough to send Barron to a crushing defeat.
The only other primary in the city to rival that amount of response was the hotly contested fight among longtime incumbent Congressman Charles Rangel, State Senator Adriano Espaillat and three other challengers.
Jeffries won his contest by more than 40 percentage points, but that only amounted to a margin about 15,000 votes.
Turnout varied widely by polling place however.
In Howard Beach, which falls into Jeffries’ new district, polls were slow through most of the day.
But those who turned out overwhelmingly voted for Jeffries.
At P.S. 232’s polling place, 331 voters supported Hakeem Jeffries while 14 cast ballots for Charles Barron.
At P.S. 146’s polling place, 131 voters backed Jeffries and only 12 opted for Barron.
At P.S./I.S. 49 in Middle Village workers said they had a steady trickle of voters, with a notable concentration of younger ones.
“It was a constant flow. They were coming out,” said coordinator Adele Lemieszewski, who noted about 300 ballots were cast by 7 p.m.
By Patricia Adams and Jeremiah Dobruck
