NYC’s ‘Battle of the Boroughs’ sticker push drives record early voting on final day

On the final day of early voting in the 2024 general election, 149,319 New Yorkers cast ballots — the highest single-day early voting turnout in New York City history. The surge did not come from a new law, a new machine, or a multimillion-dollar campaign. It came from five limited-edition stickers, each bearing an iconic landmark from one of the five boroughs, and a friendly rivalry that New Yorkers were already having online. The U.S. Election Assistance Commission, marking the 10th anniversary of its Clearinghouse Awards, spotlighted the effort — the Board of Elections in the City of New York’s “Battle of the Boroughs” — as the 2024 winner in the Creative and Original “I Voted” Stickers category, according to the EAC.

This matters because New York City runs one of the largest election operations in the country: more than 5 million voters, over 1,200 poll sites, and 15 hours to vote on Election Day. Spreading turnout across the nine days of early voting isn’t a nicety — it directly relieves lines and congestion on Election Day, especially in high-turnout years. Overall, 59% of active registrants voted in the 2024 general election, and 23% of them voted early.

A Rivalry the City Was Already Having

The idea didn’t originate in a conference room. Election officials noticed New Yorkers on social media egging each other on during early voting — challenging friends to turn out, celebrating when their borough was ahead, proudly declaring their borough was “on top.” The Board of Elections decided to lean into it.

Georgea Kontzamanis, the Board’s Operations Manager, explained the thinking in an interview with the EAC:

We didn’t invent borough pride; we simply found a way to channel it toward voting. Find what people genuinely care about, keep the idea simple and visual, and give voters something they’ll want to share.

For the final weekend of early voting, the office introduced the five borough stickers and branded the push the “Battle of the Boroughs,” bringing the competition to life through social media. The stickers became more than a souvenir — they became a badge of civic participation, borough pride, and bragging rights.

What the Numbers Show

The response was immediate and visible. What began as five stickers became a citywide conversation, extending the contest well beyond the polling place. The final-day record of 149,319 ballots, reported by the EAC, caps a broader shift: since early voting debuted in New York City in 2019, the office has been working to make it a habit rather than just an option.

The lesson Kontzamanis drew is one other jurisdictions can use: improving the voting experience isn’t always about major technological or logistical changes. As she put it, civic engagement can be serious without being solemn.

Why Small Ideas Get Shared

The Clearinghouse Awards exist precisely to surface this kind of practice. Kontzamanis told the EAC that election officials are constantly innovating but don’t always stop to share what’s working, and she urged peers to submit even modest successes: A successful practice doesn’t have to be a sweeping overhaul. It can be a simple idea that solves a real problem or improves the voter experience. If it worked for your voters, it could inspire another election office to think differently. The full award entry is documented in the EAC’s Clearie submission for the program.

There’s a practical stake behind the playfulness, too. In a city where Election Day means 15 hours and more than 1,200 poll sites, every early voter is one less person in a line on the big day. The 2024 numbers — 59% turnout among active registrants, 23% early — suggest the strategy is compounding rather than spiking.

The Open Question for Other Cities

Not every jurisdiction has five boroughs to compete over, but nearly every community has some identity people already rally around. The NYC experiment leaves a question other election offices will have to answer for themselves: what local pride can be channeled into a voting habit? Kontzamanis’s advice is to start by paying attention to what’s already happening around you — the best ideas may already be unfolding on the feeds your voters scroll.

Something as simple as a sticker, it turns out, can create enough energy around voting to set a city record.