Some Staten Island residents woke up early this morning to cast their ranked-choice ballots. That includes Stapleton resident Patti Bumbrey.

“If you don’t vote, you can’t complain,” Bumbrey told NY1.

Bumbrey and Jimmy Williams, also a Stapleton local, said they make sure to vote every election.

“This is your right. So many fought for the vote, so we vote,” Williams explained.

Both the Staten Islanders said voting is even more important for them this year. 

“In this area, to me right now, we’re both retired, there’s crime,” said Williams.

That’s why they came to the Gerard Carter Community Center to vote early and have their voices heard. 

“We wanna see some changes. We wanna see some improvements. More things for the children. We want to see more affordable housing. The crime is crazy. The racial bias that’s going on has to stop. Black on Black crime has to stop. Noise pollution, the running of the motorcycles all hours of the night,” said Bumbrey.

New Yorkers like Bumbrey and Williams were able to vote using ranked-choice voting for the first time, where voters list their candidates in order of preference from one-five.

But there didn’t seem to be too many early risers throughout the morning to test out the new way of voting on Staten Island. 

Wayne Mcdougall, another Stapleton local, said change starts locally, so he was happy to get up and vote. 

“Local is the most important election in the country basically. That’s where a lot of the legislative laws are made, city laws are made, legislation is made. That’s important, I want make sure my vote is counted,” said Mcdougall. 

If you want to cast your vote this weekend, you have from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.

The early voting period lasts through June 20. There are 104 early voting sites across the city.

The best way to find your location is by going on VOTE.NYC.