Donald Trump, property tycoon turned reality TV star turned potential presidential candidate, is a busy man. Too busy, it seems, to make it to the polling booth.

Records unearthed by NY1, Trump's hometown news station, show he has not voted in primary elections for 21 years. City election board spokeswoman Valerie Vazquez confirmed NY1's story at the weekend.

The news prompted a furious denial from Trump. "I voted in every general election … You're going to pay a big price because you're wrong ... I have records that I voted and so does the board of elections … I signed in at every election," he told NY1.

Trump has yet to confirm he will run for president but will be hoping for a more committed turnout from his own supporters if he is to move forward with his campaign. In order to secure the nomination he would need to get fellow Republicans to vote for him in a primary election – something that the state election board records appear to show he has failed to do consistently since 1989.

Back in 1989 Trump voted in the primary for mayor when Rudolph Giuliani beat business magnate Ronald Lauder, but according to the documents, Trump failed to show up at the primaries after that for over 20 years.

It wasn't just local elections Trump missed. The tycoon also failed to cast his vote in several presidential primaries, including in 1988 and 1996.

The star of The Apprentice became a Democrat in 2001 but missed the 2001 and 2005 primaries for mayor. In 2002 records show he also appears to have skipped the general election.

In 2008 Trump voiced his support for Barack Obama during the fiercely fought primary with Hillary Clinton. "I think [Obama] has a chance to go down as a great president," Trump told NY1 in 2008. "Now if he's not, if he's not a great president then this country is in trouble." Perhaps it was this ambivalence that led to him missing that vote too.

Trump's lawyer Michael Cohen told Associated Press on Saturday that "for one of the greatest international businessmen who travels all over the country and the world, his voting record is very, very good."

Trump's campaign has been fuelled by his questioning whether Obama was born in the United States, and by his plans to seize the oil of countries including Iraq and Libya. The latest Gallup poll finds Trump tied in first place among Republican voters with Mike Huckabee, the former Arkansas governor, on 16%. Mitt Romney is third with 13%, with former Alaska governor Sarah Palin in fourth on 10%.