Cost of public advocate election: $13 million
The runoff election for New York City public advocate, a little known and frequently misunderstood post, will cost $13 million, more than six times the position’s annual budget.
That cost has drawn withering criticism, including from both parties’ mayoral candidates, but by law, a runoff must be held between the primary’s top two finishers when no candidate reaches 40 percent of the vote.
The winners of the higher-profile mayoral and comptroller primary contests stayed above that threshold, meaning the Democratic public advocate race is the only one on the ballot Tuesday and that turnout will likely be extremely low.