You are reading

Selvena Brooks-Powers Has Lead in 31st District Special Election Race, Ranked-Choice Voting Count To Determine Official Winner

(Michael Appleton/Mayoral Photography Office)

Feb. 24, 2021 By Allie Griffin

There was no clear winner in Tuesday’s special election for the 31st District Council seat after votes were tallied last night.

None of the nine candidates running for the southeast Queens seat secured a majority — more than 50 percent — of votes, thus prompting the city’s first test of the new ranked-choice voting system.

The candidate with the most votes at this point is Selvena Brooks-Powers, who generated about 38 percent of the vote, or 2,613 votes. Close behind is Pesach Osina, who received about 35 percent of the count, or 2,406 votes, according to the unofficial election night results.

Manny Silva came in third with about 10 percent or 694 votes. The remaining candidates earned single-digit percentages.

Selvena Brooks-Powers

Under ranked-choice voting, voters can rank candidates one through five in order of preference. The votes already tallied are first-choice votes. If a candidate wins a majority of first-choice votes, he or she wins the election.

If no one wins a majority — as in Tuesday’s election — then the candidate with the least votes is knocked out.

People who selected the last-placed candidate as their top choice will then have their votes tallied for whomever they picked as their second choice.

The process continues until one candidate receives the majority of votes. Candidate Nicole Lee will be the first to be knocked out in the process since she finished last.

Lee earned just under one percent of first-choice votes. Voters who ranked her as their first choice will have their second choices tallied and the process will continue.

The official winner of the nonpartisan special election, however, will not be announced for a couple weeks.

Board of Election officials said they would not begin the process of the ranked-choice voting count until March 10. The extra time is reserved for absentee and military ballots to be delivered to the Board.

Despite the delay, Brooks-Powers issued a statement Tuesday night where she declared herself the likely winner.

“We’re confident that once every vote has been counted, I will be the next Councilwoman…,” she said. “While there was substantial confusion about Ranked Choice Voting, these early results are promising and I look forward to all of the votes being counted.”

Pesach Osina

Brooks-Powers — who has served numerous roles in government and labor — collected several key endorsements in the lead-up to Tuesday, including the Queens County Democratic Party, the 1199 SEIU and 32BJ unions, Sen. James Sanders and Queens Borough President Donovan Richards.

Richards vacated the D-31 seat to become borough president.

However, Osina — who, eight years ago, ran and lost to Richards by a mere 79 votes  — has secured the backing of the district’s Orthodox Jewish community.

The winner of the special election will serve as the council member for the remainder of Richards’ term through December 2021.

A June primary and November general election will determine who will secure a full two-year term starting in 2022.

email the author: news@queenspost.com
No comments yet

Leave a Comment
Reply to this Comment

All comments are subject to moderation before being posted.

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Recent News

Hollis man charged with raping 14-year-old told teen, ‘I can help you get work’

New details have emerged in the case of the Hollis man accused luring a 14-year-old boy into his car in St. Albans and then allegedly raping him on the afternoon of Tuesday, July 1.

Virgilio Taveras, 63, of Hillside Avenue, was arrested by detectives from the Queens Special Victims Squad two days later and booked at the 107th Precinct in Fresh Meadows. Taveras was arraigned on the Fourth of July in Queens Criminal Court on a complaint charging him with rape in the second degree, luring a child as an E felony, endangering the welfare of a child and other related crimes.

Deadly Belt Parkway crash claims lives of Springfield Gardens man and Manhattan mother: NYPD

A Springfield Gardens man and a passenger in his car died after they were involved in a multi-vehicle chain-reaction crash on the Belt Parkway near Kennedy Airport on the morning of Saturday, July 5.

Noah Thompson, 24, of 179th Street, was behind the wheel of a white BMW 428i traveling eastbound on the Belt Parkway in Howard Beach at 6:05 a.m. when he failed to navigate the roadway approaching the Nassau Expressway exit.