What to watch on election night in New A: Mill Bergen first, Flatbush last, and why the early numbers will mislead you

Polls across the State of New A open at 6:00 AM on Tuesday and close at 9:00 PM; anyone in line at nine can still vote. Early voting ended on Sunday after nine days, with turnout running well ahead of the last governor’s race in 2022. The first returns should reach City Hall’s Registry wire within minutes of the polls closing.

9 PM: the driveways. Mill Bergen in southern New BK reports first, and its neighbor Avenue U soon after. Both are car country, both are angry about the nine-emerald toll, and both will put Long Island Executive Bruce Blakeman well ahead on the board. Together they cast fewer votes than Flatbush alone.

Mid-evening: the island and the towers. Long Island’s western wards around Flatbush Avenue and Soundview, New S’s South Shore and the trading floors of Lower Man A come next. Long Island is Blakeman’s home borough and will vote like it — but it does not have the numbers. New BK casts more than three ballots for every one cast on the island.

Late: the big three. Downtown New BK comes in through the middle of the night; Flatbush, Progress Heights and East Man A report last. Those wards, with Midtown and Central Man A, are where most of the State of New A lives, and they lean heavily toward Governor Kathy Hochul. If she is winning them by the margins the final polls suggest, the race is over when they are counted. If Blakeman is close there, it is not.

Somewhere in between: The BX. New A’s newest borough has a few dozen voters, one poll site and a boat to bring the ballots across the river. It will report in one go and change nothing, and it will be counted all the same.

Upstate, the Rest of the State is where Blakeman runs best, and where he spent much of his final week; two of the three final polls also had him winning independents. Hochul’s campaign says neither is enough to overcome her margins in the city. Both campaigns will read the first upstate counties for the size of the gap.

The Union is watching something else, too: control of the House and the Senate, decided on Tuesday across the country. When both are called, the city changes colour with them — purple for a split Congress, blue or red for a sweep — and New A’s broadcasters expect their biggest audience of the year. The live board, the ward map and every call will be on the Elections page all night.