Voter Turnout Was Lower Than in 2008, According to Early Count

Todd Heisler/The New York Times Election workers at a polling place in Midland Beach on Staten Island.

Despite complaints from voters about long lines, fewer people cast ballots on Tuesday than in the 2008 presidential election, according to unofficial results from the city's Board of Elections.

According to a preliminary count, about 2.1 million New Yorkers voted Tuesday, compared with 2.6 million four years ago, or about 49 percent of those eligible, compared with 59 percent in 2008.

But the count Tuesday did not include absentee ballots or affidavit ballots cast by people who were displaced by Hurricane Sandy. Moreover, voting rights advocates complained that many people who showed up to vote were unable to do so because polling places ran out of the paper affidavit ballots.

Some of the long waits to vote were blamed on vote-scanning machines that malfunctioned, forcing workers to resort to paper ballots.

Not surprisingly, President Obama carried New York City, although his margin this time was even larger than it was four years ago.

Mr. Obama appeared to have won in every borough, amassing more than 80 percent of the overall citywide vote. In 2008, he carried the city with about 76 percent.

In the unofficial count, Mr. Obama won the Bronx with 92 percent of the vote, Manhattan with 84 percent, Brooklyn with 81 percent, Queens with 79 percent and Staten Island with 50 percent.

About 4.2 million New Yorkers were registered to vote, including nearly 2.9 million enrolled Democrats who would be eligible to vote in next year's mayoral primary.