New Yorkers across the city headed to the polls on Tuesday in a primary day election that is almost certain to determine the city's next mayor, although the results might not be known for weeks.

There are 15 mayoral candidates on this year's ballot, including two Latinos: left-wing candidate Dianne Morales and Dominican-born Fernando Matteo, a Republican.

Of the Democratic candidates, former police officer and current Brooklyn borough president Eric Adams is considered the favorite to win, with polls suggesting a narrow lead over former presidential hopeful Andrew Yang.

New York Democrats make last-ditch push for Latino voters

On the last day before voting, Adams ended his campaign by criticizing an alliance between Yang and another candidate, former sanitation commissioner Katheryn Garcia.

The two candidates campaigned together, with Yang urging supporters to rank her second on the ballot, which for the first is using a ranked-voting system.

On Monday, the Adams campaign released a series of quotes from key allies in the city alleging that the alliance between Yang and Garcia amounted to an effort to suppress Black and Latino voters. 

The two candidates campaigned together, with Yang urging supporters to rank her second on the ballot, which for the first is using a ranked-voting system.

Speaking to CNN on Monday, Adams suggested that the joint campaigning - which came just after the US celebrated the ‘Juneteenth' holiday celebrating the emancipation of enslaved African-Americans - "sent the wrong signal....and that is how many of the African-American, Hispanic candidates felt after they saw it."

In a separate interview on Fox, Adams said that the alliance "feeds into the signals of America."

"We know America's dark past," he said. "Everything from poll taxes to how we stop the vote, what we are seeing across the country."

Political experts believe that Latinos will constitute as much as 20% of the electorate in this year's primary, the most since the 2005 election which pitted Michael Bloomberg against Latino Bronx borough president Fernando Ferrer.

Garcia, for her part, spent the last day of the campaign in the Bronx, the only one of New York City's five boroughs that has a majority Latino population.

Although only one of New York City's Democratic mayoral candidates is Latino, a number of other Latinos are running for office in the city.

Dominican-American City Councilman Antonio Reynoso, for example, is running to become Brooklyn borough president, while a number of Latinos - including state assemblywoman Nathalia Fernandez, city councilman Fernando Cabrera and state Senator Luis Sepúlveda - are running to become Bronx borough president.

Ahead of mayoral election, New York City's latino vote grows in power 

For many Latinos in New York, the election is seen as an important milestone in the growing power of the Latino vote in the city.

"This election shows that we have a voice in this city," Brooklyn resident Vicente Cotilla told LPO. "I don't think anyone can ignore us anymore." Daniel Berganza, a resident of the Bronx, told LPO that "we've been ignored for too long." 

For many Latinos in New York, the election is seen as an important milestone in the growing power of the Latino vote in the city.

"This time, it feels as though the candidates are making more of an effort to reach out to the Latino community," he said. "Even the ones that aren't Latino are making an effort to talk about things that impact Black and brown communities, like jobs, Covid-19 relief and the police."

On the Republican side, there are only two Republican candidates: Dominican-born Fernando Mateo, the president of the New York State Federation of Taxi Drivers, and Curtis Sliwa, a talk-show host and founder of the Guardian Angels, a controversial crime prevention group which he began in 1979.

Just hours before voting began, former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani formerly endorsed Sliwa, saying he is the only candidate who can address the city's issues with crime.

"When the real voting starts, I want to make sure every Republican comes out to vote," Giuliani said. "Do not listen to ‘a Republican can't win'. That's media propaganda. That's Democrat propaganda." 

On the Republican side, there are only two Republican candidates: Dominican-born Fernando Mateo, the president of the New York State Federation of Taxi Drivers, and Curtis Sliwa, a talk-show host and founder of the Guardian Angels, a controversial crime prevention group which he began in 1979.

Mateo, for his part, has been endorsed by Michael Flynn, the controversial former National Security advisor of the Trump administration.

Mateo traveled to meet with Trump several weeks ago, and has argued that he is the only ‘true' Republican in the race. Sliwa registered as a Republican in 2020.

On Monday, Mateo took aim directly at Giuliani for supporting Sliwa.

"Rudy, you know that Curtis Sliwa is a never-Trumper," he said. "You're the attorney for President Trump. How could you do this?"

New York's ranked-choice voting system, however, means that the results of the election may not be clear for days or even weeks.

"We all have to get used to the idea it could be weeks before we have a 100% final count," current mayor Bill de Blasio told voters on Monday. "This will be different. It will be a frustrating process and it'll take awhile."