Ms. Walton, a democratic socialist, became a liberal star after she defeated Mayor Byron Brown in a primary in June 2021, only to lose the general election that fall after Mr. Brown mounted a write-in campaign.
In this campaign, Ms. Walton had criticized Ms. Everhart’s connections to the Democratic establishment, which included endorsements from the county Democratic Committee and Senator Chuck Schumer. But returns on Tuesday showed Ms. Everhart took about two-thirds of the vote.
How Ranked-Choice Voting May Affect the Results
There were 13 New York City Council contests involving three or more candidates. If no candidate clearly attracted more than 50 percent of the vote, the City Board of Elections will use the ranked-choice system — but not until July 5. The board usually runs the first ranked-choice calculation seven days after the vote, but because that day falls on the Fourth of July, the tabulation will be delayed a day.
If necessary, additional ranked-choice tabulations will be held each week afterward, on July 11 and July 18, said Vincent Ignizio, the deputy executive director of the Board of Elections.
About 15,000 absentee ballots have already been filed, but additional absentee ballots can be received a week after Election Day as long as they are postmarked by June 27.
Under recent changes to state law, voters will also have an opportunity to cure or fix mistakes on their absentee ballots. The tentative last day to receive absentee ballot cures is July 17.
Because of the low turnout, Board of Elections officials don’t expect that more than three rounds of ranked-choice voting tabulations will be required.
Susan Lerner, executive director of Common Cause New York, a government watchdog group, said ranked-choice voting gave people more options. “We heard some voters in our 2021 exit polling say that because they knew they had the ability to rank, they actually paid more attention to more candidates,” she said.
Jesse McKinley, James Barron and Lola Fadulu contributed reporting.
Jeffery C. Mays
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