Although results from Tuesday's New York City primary elections are in, confirmation on whether or not the top Democratic finisher, Public Advocate Bill de Blasio, will be forced into a runoff remains unclear.
The Board of Elections said de Blasio had 40.12 percent of the vote, a whisker above the 40 percent threshold he needs to avoid an automatic Oct. 1 showdown with second-place finisher Bill Thompson. Unofficial results with some ballots yet to be counted show that Thompson received 26.1 percent of the vote.
Election officials will recount the votes Friday, according to Board of Elections spokeswoman Valerie Vazquez. In addition, a little over 19,000 absentee and military ballots will be counted starting on Monday, which could tip the vote to either side of 40 percent, election officials. A final tally could take days, reports Reuters.
With de Blasio so close to 40 percent, Democratic leaders may pressure Thompson to drop out of the race in the name of party unity. Exit polling shows de Blasio would handily defeat Thompson in a runoff, 52 to 34 percent, with 9 percent of voters saying they would stay home.
However, Thompson made clear Tuesday that he wanted to continue campaigning, a stance he is expected to reiterate Thursday.
Thompson, an ex-comptroller and his party's 2009 nominee for mayor, has 26.2 percent of the vote. He was followed by City Council Speaker Christine Quinn at 15 percent, Comptroller John Liu at 7 percent and ex-U.S. Rep. Anthony Weiner at 5 percent, reports the Huffington Post.
In other election results, Scott Stringer was declared the victor as NYC comptroller, Joe Lhota was named the GOP NYC mayoral candidate and there will be a run-off between City Councilwoman Letitia James and state Sen. Daniel Squadron for Public Advocate since both received around 34 percent of the vote.
Polls show that Bill de Blasio has earned 40.2 percent of the votes, Scott Stringer was declared the victor as NYC comptroller, Joe Lhota was named the GOP NYC mayoral candidate and there will be a run-off between City Councilwoman Letitia James and state Sen. Daniel Squadron, who both have about 34 percent of the vote, for Public Advocate.