New York‘s election system is peculiar compared to other states, which has created some confusion about the New York City mayoral race ballots.
Elon Musk, who endorsed former Gov. Andrew Cuomo on Monday, criticized the city’s election ballot on the morning of Election Day.
“The New York City ballot form is a scam!” he wrote on X, complaining that no identification is required, candidates appear twice, and that Cuomo’s name is last on the ballot.
The New York City ballot form is a scam!
– No ID is required
– Other mayoral candidates appear twice
– Cuomo’s name is last in bottom right pic.twitter.com/676VODWFRI— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 4, 2025
Musk later added that because Mamdani is “on the ballot twice, maybe he can win twice too.”
On the ballot line issue, New York has had candidates run on multiple ballot lines for decades. The practice is called “fusion voting” and is used so voters can vote for major party candidates without using the major party lines.
Voters can cast just one vote on one ballot line. Any voters filling in two bubbles will have their vote invalidated. Any votes toward a candidate will count toward their vote total.
Democratic nominee Zohran Mamdani is on his party’s ballot line and on the progressive Working Families Party line. Republican nominee Curtis Sliwa is also on his party’s line and the independent Protect Animals line.
Former Gov. Andrew Cuomo is just on the independent Fight & Deliver line, which he formed before he lost the Democratic primary. If he had won the primary, he would’ve been on two lines as well.
Mayoral candidates in previous elections, such as former NYC Mayor Mike Bloomberg, have also run on two lines.
Bloomberg ran on the Independence ballot line and as a Republican in 2009. Former Mayor Bill de Blasio ran on the Democratic and Working Families Party lines in 2013 and 2017.
Cuomo’s placement on the ballot is a matter of luck. New York City uses lotteries to decide ballot placement, and Cuomo’s spot was randomly chosen for the general election. A Cuomo spokesperson confirmed to the Washington Examiner that the former governor’s name was randomly placed on the ballot.
And Musk’s last point on voter identification is half true. Voters are required to show identification when they register to vote, but don’t need to show it when they vote if they’ve already shown it to register.
Musk endorsed Cuomo on Monday, along with President Donald Trump, advising voters not to vote for Sliwa. “Remember to vote tomorrow in New York! Bear in mind that a vote for Curtis is really a vote for Mumdumi or whatever his name is. VOTE CUOMO!” he wrote on X.
Trump wrote a Truth Social post on Monday, telling voters that they “really have no choice” other than to vote for Cuomo over Mamdani. Cuomo said Trump’s advice to voters not to vote for Sliwa over Cuomo was “very helpful.”
Republicans are fearful of a Mamdani mayoralty and have fled from Sliwa’s camp to back Cuomo because they believe he has a better chance of winning. Other Republicans, such as White House adviser Stephen Miller and former New York Rep. George Santos, also backed Cuomo.
New York City’s mayoral race will come to a close on Tuesday, with Mamdani favored to win. If he does, he’ll be the city’s first Muslim mayor and one of its youngest ever.
And if Cuomo loses, it’ll be the first general election he’s lost in his long political career. The former governor voted in Midtown East on Tuesday morning and warned that “Democrats are not extreme socialists.”
CUOMO WINS ODD ALLIES IN CLOSING HOURS OF NYC MAYORAL RACE
“We’re not against the police. We don’t believe the NYPD are racist. We don’t believe they should be abolished. We don’t believe in abolishing jails. … That is not us. We’re a party of law and order,” Cuomo told reporters.
“This country is not a socialist country,” he added. “Socialism has never worked anywhere on the globe, not Venezuela, not Cuba. It’s not gonna work in New York City.”