He’s buried on the ballot and trying to dig out.
Former Gov. Andrew Cuomo not-so-subtly showed city mayoral election voters where to find his difficult-to-spot name on the ballot in a video released Tuesday.
The 30-second clip titled “New Day” features a sunny Cuomo — who has darkly portended doom if rival Zohran Mamdani is elected — promising to unify New Yorkers, while flashing a graphic displaying the ex-gov’s second-row position on the ballot.
Cuomo’s independent line “Fight and Deliver” is sandwiched between two minor candidates, while Mamdani, the Democratic nominee, and Republican candidate Curtis Sliwa are each listed twice before the former governor even makes an appearance.
“Ballot education is a big part of any race and we did on social media several posts in different languages,” said Cuomo’s spokesman Rich Azzopardi about the video’s graphic.
“It would be malpractice not to.”
The effort by Cuomo’s campaign to counteract the “Where’s Waldo”-esque search for his name on the ballot comes as early voting is underway before the Nov. 4 election.
Cuomo campaign officials hope a flood of Boomer, Gen X and other older early voters will translate to a rejection of Mamdani by moderate and conservative New Yorkers — and a surprise victory for the former governor, who has consistently been polling in second place.
Voters 50 and up, who are generally considered more likely to be Cuomo backers, accounted for nearly 60% of ballots during early voting’s first two days over the weekend.
The surge of older early voters slowed slightly Monday and Tuesday, with 20- and 30-somethings starting to close the gap in turnout, election data shows.
Ballot casters under 50 accounted for 41% of votes during the first four days of early voting, in which nearly 280,000 New Yorkers cast ballots, data shows.
Young voters had helped propel Mamdani to victory during the Democratic primary, particularly the 18- to 29-year-old group, who were 35% of votes in that contest.
The group cast 12% of early voting ballots over four days, data shows.
“The overall trends of being 50 and over is holding, Manhattan is over-performing — these are encouraging signs,” Azzopardi said.
“New Yorkers know this is the most important election in our lifetimes and most don’t want New York to be a socialist experiment.”
The nine day early voting period ends Saturday, ahead of Election Day on Nov. 4.
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