Best of Rochester: How Voting Works & How to Win

What Best of Rochester is and who runs it

CITY Magazine runs Best of Rochester, an annual readers' poll for Rochester, New York, in the best-of vertical. The magazine's masthead reads arts, music and culture, and the poll is the reader-facing expression of that coverage: locals vote for their favorites among Rochester area businesses, and the results feed a special section published on the magazine's own site.

The ballot is hosted by the organizer itself. The voting address sits under roccitymag.com, in the special-sections area of the site, so a supporter never leaves the publisher's domain to cast a vote. That keeps the program distinct from the many best-of polls that run on outside contest platforms, and it means the rules a voter sees on the ballot are the rules CITY Magazine has written for its own poll.

The mechanic is public-vote. The magazine describes the program plainly as its annual readers' poll, and the ballot is open to whoever reaches it during the published windows. For a business, that shapes the whole campaign: the audience is the magazine's readership and the Rochester public, not a jury and not a paid membership, so visibility with local readers is what converts into votes.

The dated record for this readers' poll

The confirmed editions of Best of Rochester run across 2023, 2024 and 2025, and CITY Magazine describes the program as its annual readers' poll, which points to a 2026 cycle as the next expected edition. Each cycle follows the same published shape: a primary ballot first, then a final round among the leading vote-getters.

In the cycle the ballot page dates, primary ballot voting is open until Nov. 24 at midnight. Voting for the final round begins December 4 and ends December 15 at midnight. Those dates come from the magazine's own ballot text, so they are the anchor for any plan built around this poll: a nominating business has the whole primary window to gather support, and then a shorter final stretch in December.

The ballot page prints no nomination or entry date and no eligibility terms; confirm on the live ballot each cycle. That gap matters in practice, because a business that assumes a separate nomination step, or assumes anyone on the ballot is automatically eligible for the final round, is planning around something the magazine has not stated.

Because the poll is annual and the special section is refreshed for every edition, the dates above describe the cycle they were printed for rather than a permanent schedule. The November primary and December final round give the shape; the magazine sets the exact days fresh each time it opens the poll.

How a supporter votes in Best of Rochester today

A supporter starts at the Best of Rochester special section on roccitymag.com and follows the link to the current ballot. The magazine frames the action simply: vote in the primary ballot for the annual readers' poll. From there the supporter works through the categories on the ballot and picks a favorite in each one worth supporting.

The published vote rule lets each person cast a single vote on any given day. That single rule defines the rhythm of the whole campaign, because a supporter who cares about a business does not vote once and stop; the ballot invites that person back on every day of the primary window, and each return is a fresh vote for the same picks.

When the primary closes, the poll moves to its final round. Voting for that round begins December 4 and ends December 15 at midnight, and the ballot for it lives in the same special section. A supporter who backed a business through the primary needs to come back for the final round, since the earlier votes do not carry over automatically; the final round is its own ballot among the finalists.

After the final round closes, results move to the winners coverage in the Best Of area of roccitymag.com, where past cycles' results are posted alongside the voting page.

How this ballot sits beside its New York neighbours

Best of Rochester is one of several best-of readers' polls in New York that appear as siblings here, each run by its own publisher in its own market. The nearest comparisons are Best of Brooklyn and Best of Queens, both borough readers' polls, along with Best of the Bronx and The City's Best, Best of New York City covering Manhattan and the city as a whole.

Two more siblings sit outside the five boroughs: Best of Hudson Valley and Best of Westchester, each tied to its own regional publication.

What separates the Rochester program from all of them is geography and host. It is the upstate city poll in the group, and it is balloted on CITY Magazine's own domain instead of a shared contest platform, so its rules, its windows and its category list are set by the magazine alone. A business nominated in Rochester cannot treat a tactic from a borough poll as automatically transferable; the daily vote rule and the primary-then-final structure printed on this ballot are the terms that actually govern here.

Strengthening support in this poll without breaking its rules

The daily ballot limit is the fact to build around. A Rochester business that wants more votes in Best of Rochester should organize its supporters to return daily through the primary window and again across the final round in December, rather than asking everyone for a single push on one day. A reminder at the counter, in a newsletter or on a receipt, timed to the ballot's own windows, matches exactly what the magazine's rule allows.

What the organizer's ballot does not invite is automation or bulk voting that ignores the per-person rule; the counting terms belong to CITY Magazine, and a campaign that reads the current ballot before pushing stays inside them. For a fuller walkthrough of outreach suited to a public ballot like this one, see our votes guide.