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Re: Only ONE Council Seat Decided - ALL Others Up for Grabs
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Seven of the nine current Jersey City City Council members say goodbye, cheerfully

By Terrence T. McDonald/The Jersey Journal
June 24, 2013 at 9:41 AM

The mood was unusually upbeat in the Jersey City City Council chambers on Wednesday, as seven of the nine council members bid adieu.
This year?s municipal election brought a wave of change to the council, with voters granting reelection to only two of the five incumbents running. The new council term begins on July 1.

If any of the losing incumbents felt any bitterness, it wasn?t on display Wednesday.

Councilwoman at large Viola Richardson, a member of the council for 12 years, wished her successors well.

?They need to govern with integrity, because the residents of Jersey City deserve that type of service,? said Richardson, who represented Ward F for about a decade before voters promoted her to an at-large seat in 2011.

Richardson, 67, who spent 20 years as a police officer before retiring on disability, said she leaves the council grateful to city voters. And now she?s prepared to spend a lot of time with her four grandchildren.

?I am really, really happy,? she said, beaming.

Council members not returning on July 1 are Michael Sottolano, who represents Ward A; David Donnelly, Ward B; Nidia Lopez, Ward C; Bill Gaughan, Ward D; and Richardson and Peter Brennan, both at-large members.

Councilman at large Rolando Lavarro and Ward F Councilwoman Diane Coleman won reelection after the June 11 runoff election. Ward E Councilman Steven Fulop is stepping down to become mayor.

?Just keep doing what you?re doing,? he said. ?Keep in touch.?

Sottolano, who opted not to seek reelection to a third term, said he is ?deeply honored? to have served the city for eight years.

Asked what?s next for him, Sottolano laughed and said, ?That?s a hell of a question.?

http://www.nj.com/jjournal-news/index ... nt_jers.html#incart_river

Posted on: 2013/6/25 4:53
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Re: Only ONE Council Seat Decided - ALL Others Up for Grabs
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Jersey City City Council 2013 Runoff Election Results

By Marli Horwitz/The Jersey Journal
on June 11, 2013 at 10:42 PM

The unofficial results for the runoff election for the Jersey City City Council seats:

At-Large (Top three vote-getters win)

Viola Richardson: 5,542
Joyce Watterman: 11,587
Daniel Rivera: 11,324
Rolando R. Lavarro Jr.: 11,069
Sean Connelly: 3,384


Ward A

Charles T. Epps Jr.: 1,380
Francis "Frank" Gajewski: 2,101


Ward B

Khemraj "Chico" Ramchal: 1,493
Esther Wintner: 539


Ward C

Nidia R. Lopez: 1,332
Richard Boggiano: 1,686


Ward D

Sean Connors: 1,402
Michael Yun: 1,833


Ward F

Diane Coleman: 1,490

Numbers are based on those from the Office of the Hudson County Clerk.
http://www.hudsoncountyclerk.org/cgi-bin/election.pl

http://www.nj.com/hudson/index.ssf/20 ... l_run-o.html#incart_river

Posted on: 2013/6/12 6:12
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Re: Only ONE Council Seat Decided - ALL Others Up for Grabs
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Jersey City Mayor-elect Steven Fulop seeks to solidify control of City Council

By Terrence T. McDonald/The Jersey Journal
Email the author | Follow on Twitter
on June 09, 2013 at 11:51 AM, updated June 09, 2013 at 1:32 PM

After months of mudslinging, campaign flyers and door-to-door canvassing, Jersey City's quadrennial election will finally end Tuesday night.

Weary voters (and candidates) had hoped the end would have come four weeks ago, but the first round of balloting on May 14 left only the races for mayor and the Ward E City Council seat settled. None of the candidates in the other council races crossed the necessary threshold to avoid a runoff.

Polls for the eight runoff elections -- for the three at-large council seats and the seats representing Wards A, B, C, D and F -- open Tuesday 6 a.m. and close at 8 p.m. Once the votes are all counted, Jersey City voters will have a break from a campaign that some feel has gone on forever.

The stakes are high for Mayor-elect Steve Fulop, who won the mayoralty on May 14 in a decisive victory over the incumbent, outgoing Mayor Jerramiah Healy. Fulop, 36, wants allies on the council, and he needs at least three victories Tuesday if he wants a majority, four victories if he wants to avoid a council overriding his vetoes.

His odds are good. His trio of at-large council candidates -- Councilman Rolando Lavarro, Daniel Rivera and the Rev. Joyce Watterman -- finished in the top three slots on election night, with Watterman emerging as the top vote-getter.

The three candidates face one serious opponent in Councilwoman at large Viola Richardson, a three-term council member. Richardon's two running mates dropped out of the runoff but she has soldiered on with $21,000 in her campaign war chest as of May 30.

A fifth at-large hopeful, attorney Sean Connelly, finished a distant seventh place on May 14.

Ward F Councilwoman Diane Coleman, a Fulop ally who joined the council after a November 2012 special election, faces no opponent in her runoff after the other four Ward F hopefuls dropped out of the race.

The odds are good Fulop will score a win in Ward B, too, where council aide Khemraj "Chico" Ramchal, the first-place finisher on May 14, faces local activist Esther Wintner.

Wintner finished in a distant third on Election Day, but entered the runoff after the second-place finisher dropped out.

Fulop told The Jersey Journal he would work hard to elect his Ward A candidate, former police chief Frank Gajewski, who finished in second place on May 14 behind former schools chief Charles T. Epps Jr. Fulop said Gajewski is instrumental to the mayor-elect's anti-crime platform, but Epps is well-known in Ward A and had a $9,000 war chest as of May 30.

The election for the Ward C seat has turned ugly. Incumbent Councilwoman Nidia Lopez, seeking her second term, finished in second place on May 14 behind retired Jersey City cop Rich Boggiano. Lopez is battling the perception among Journal Square voters that she rarely emerges from her council office to help constituents. Boggiano, meanwhile, casts himself as an everyman who can get the job done.

The Election Day result in Ward D surprised many political observers, who had expected Assemblyman Sean Connors, a Fulop ally, to perform well in the Heights, where he is well known and liked. But Connors finished almost nine percentage points behind Central Avenue business owner Michael Yun, who raised $172,000 for the May 14 race and is similarly well funded for tomorrow's contest, with more than $55,000 in his war chest as of May 30.

The winners of Tuesday's races, as well as Fulop and Ward E Councilwoman-elect Candice Osborne, will be sworn in on July 1.

http://www.nj.com/hudson/index.ssf/20 ... _steven.html#incart_river

Posted on: 2013/6/10 3:34
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Re: Only ONE Council Seat Decided - ALL Others Up for Grabs
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All of these "drop outs" are all well and good. But their names will still be on the ballots. So people can still vote for them. Its still important we get out to vote for the people who are still in this and still want the jobs so they don't go to these Healy people by default, ya know?


June 4th is Primary Election (must declare either Democrat or Republican only to vote)for Committee persons and Assemblky persons (State).

July 11th is At-Large and Ward Council candidates election.

Fulop needs both to help make the change we want to see. Please vote!

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Posted on: 2013/5/25 11:19
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Re: Only ONE Council Seat Decided - ALL Others Up for Grabs
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Another Healy ally may drop out of June 11 runoff elections

By Terrence T. McDonald/The Jersey Journal
May 23, 2013 at 5:57 PM

And then there were two?

Jersey City man Jermaine Robinson, a candidate for the Ward F City Council seat, told The Jersey Journal he may drop out of the June 11 runoff election, leaving only two candidates backed by Mayor Jerramiah Healy running in next month's race.

Robinson, 37, said he has seen business both at his caf? and his barber shop suffer since he started his bid to win election to the council. That, coupled with a loved one?s illness, may send Robinson to the exit door, he said.

He hasn't made up his mind whether to quit the race, but "it's really looking that way," he said.

Robinson would become the fourth council candidate allied with Healy to back out of the June 11 runoff election. Healy lost his bid for a third full term last week to Councilman Steve Fulop, who becomes mayor on July 1.

In a field of five candidates, Robinson finished in second place on Election Day last week, just 55 votes behind Ward F Councilwoman Diane Coleman in the closest of the seven council races. Coleman is a Fulop ally.

Because no candidate received more than 50 percent of the vote, Coleman and Robinson are headed for a one-on-one matchup on June 11.

Of the seven council races held on May 14, only one, in Ward E, was decided on Election Day, while the rest will be decided after the runoff election.

Robinson?s probable exit is good news for Fulop, virtually guaranteeing Coleman a win in Ward F (Robinson?s name will likely remain on the ballot). Fulop has said one of his top priorities until he becomes mayor is to get his allies elected to the nine-member council.

The three other Healy candidates who have already backed out of the runoff election have cited financial reasons and the difficulty of defeating Fulop-backed candidates. At-large hopefuls Councilman at large Peter Brennan and Omar Perez have withdrawn from their race, as has Ward B hopeful Gerald Meyers.

Meyer?s withdrawal leaves Fulop candidate Khemraj ?Chico? Ramchal as the only candidate running in Ward B. Meyers, Brennan and Perez exited the race early enough to have their names removed from the ballot.

If Robinson indeed withdraws, only two Healy-backed candidates will remain in the running on June 11: Councilwoman at large Viola Richardson, who is running solo against Fulop?s three at-large candidates; and former schools superintendent Charles T. Epps Jr., who is running in Ward A against Fulop ally Frank Gajewski, a former police chief.

In the Ward C and Ward D races, Fulop?s allies are running against independent candidates. The Healy-backed council hopefuls in those races did not win enough votes on May 14 to win a spot in the runoff elections.

http://www.nj.com/hudson/index.ssf/20 ... drop_ou.html#incart_river

Posted on: 2013/5/24 5:35
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Re: Only ONE Council Seat Decided - ALL Others Up for Grabs
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All of these "drop outs" are all well and good. But their names will still be on the ballots. So people can still vote for them. Its still important we get out to vote for the people who are still in this and still want the jobs so they don't go to these Healy people by default, ya know?

Posted on: 2013/5/20 18:08
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Re: Only ONE Council Seat Decided - ALL Others Up for Grabs
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Can't wait for Viola to join him.

Posted on: 2013/5/20 18:06
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Re: Only ONE Council Seat Decided - ALL Others Up for Grabs
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Another one bites the dust.

Peter Brennan is out!!!!! woohoo!!!!

Posted on: 2013/5/20 16:58
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Re: Only ONE Council Seat Decided - ALL Others Up for Grabs
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Candidates in Jersey City council races eye dropping out of runoff elections

By Terrence T. McDonald/The Jersey Journal
May 20, 2013 at 7:26 AM

At least one candidate in the forthcoming Jersey City council runoff elections is bowing out of the race, and others may be considering it as well.

Gerald Meyers, who came in second last Tuesday in his bid to win the Ward B council seat, told The Jersey Journal Friday he doesn?t want to participate in the runoff election.

Omar Perez, whose at-large council team came in second behind Mayor-elect Steve Fulop?s three-person team, has also expressed interest in bowing out, according to a city source.

Sources say Councilman at large Peter Brennan, who ran on Healy?s ticket with Perez, may also ask voters not to consider him for the runoff. Requests for comment from Brennan and Perez were not returned.

??State election law says candidates cannot be removed from runoff election ballots unless they die seven days or more before the election. City Clerk Robert Byrne said Friday that candidates would have to sue him to force him to remove their names.

Meyers, 65, a part-time Hudson County worker, ran on incumbent Mayor Jerramiah Healy?s council slate (Healy lost to Fulop). He finished in second place on Election Day, coming in about 200 votes behind Fulop ally Khemraj ?Chico? Ramchal.

Meyers told The Jersey Journal he thinks it would cost about $30,000 to campaign between now and the June 11 runoff, and he said he doesn?t have the funds.

?Wish I had money trees in the backyard,? he said, adding that he also worries that he?ll miss family gatherings if he?s elected to the council.

http://www.nj.com/jjournal-news/index ... y_counc.html#incart_river

Posted on: 2013/5/20 16:07
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Re: Only ONE Council Seat Decided - ALL Others Up for Grabs
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brewster wrote:
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JCCheerleader wrote:
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H-Parker wrote:
Does state law require that there be runoffs for council seats? It seems like a waste of time, money and voters' patience.

I agree. It seems a waste when the winners already won fair and square.


You might not feel that way if you backed a loser who got 2nd place with 12% in a field of 15 candidates. That person might stand a great chance of winning the runoff. Look up how Schundler won a special "no runoff" election with 17 percent of the vote in field of 19 candidates. This is why instant runoff makes so much sense.


Great in theory, but many voters couldn't figure out there were 3 atlarge candidates. You gotta keep things very simple...

Posted on: 2013/5/20 14:48
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Re: Only ONE Council Seat Decided - ALL Others Up for Grabs
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JCCheerleader wrote:

JCCheerleader wrote:
...
But don't all the candidates have to run again or is it just the top two?


Just the top two.


...and for at-large the top 6 have a runoff for 3 slots.

Posted on: 2013/5/20 14:46
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Re: Only ONE Council Seat Decided - ALL Others Up for Grabs
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Why can't the June 4 & the June 11th elections be merged into one day? Besides committee seats, what else is up for election on June 4th? It makes zero sense. My neighbors - my large building had a huge turnout - are tired as heck of elections & the material/canvassing and general pestering that goes with it.

What's so tiring about it, unless they are working the polls, campaigning, or in a business that is affected by the election all a registered voter has to do is walk to their polling place AND VOTE ! And if that is too much trouble they can VOTE by absentee ballot.

Posted on: 2013/5/20 11:12
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Re: Only ONE Council Seat Decided - ALL Others Up for Grabs
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JCCheerleader wrote:
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But don't all the candidates have to run again or is it just the top two?


Just the top two.

Posted on: 2013/5/20 10:33
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Re: Only ONE Council Seat Decided - ALL Others Up for Grabs
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brewster wrote:
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JCCheerleader wrote:
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H-Parker wrote:
Does state law require that there be runoffs for council seats? It seems like a waste of time, money and voters' patience.

I agree. It seems a waste when the winners already won fair and square.


You might not feel that way if you backed a loser who got 2nd place with 12% in a field of 15 candidates. That person might stand a great chance of winning the runoff. Look up how Schundler won a special "no runoff" election with 17 percent of the vote in field of 19 candidates. This is why instant runoff makes so much sense.

But don't all the candidates have to run again or is it just the top two?

Posted on: 2013/5/20 4:51
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Re: Only ONE Council Seat Decided - ALL Others Up for Grabs
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JCCheerleader wrote:
Quote:

H-Parker wrote:
Does state law require that there be runoffs for council seats? It seems like a waste of time, money and voters' patience.

I agree. It seems a waste when the winners already won fair and square.


You might not feel that way if you backed a loser who got 2nd place with 12% in a field of 15 candidates. That person might stand a great chance of winning the runoff. Look up how Schundler won a special "no runoff" election with 17 percent of the vote in field of 19 candidates. This is why instant runoff makes so much sense.

Posted on: 2013/5/19 1:18
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Re: Only ONE Council Seat Decided - ALL Others Up for Grabs
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H-Parker wrote:
Does state law require that there be runoffs for council seats? It seems like a waste of time, money and voters' patience.

I agree. It seems a waste when the winners already won fair and square.

Posted on: 2013/5/19 0:35
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Re: Only ONE Council Seat Decided - ALL Others Up for Grabs
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The multiple elections are going to happen, even though no one is thrilled by it. It's a matter of law, and no amount of complaining is going to change that in the next few weeks.

While the instant runoff is a long-term solution, requiring state legislative change, there's an easier solution close to hand.

The real problem with this runoff is the poor design of the municipal election. Had it occurred a week earlier, its runoff could have been folded into the primary, which is an immovable date affecting the entire state.

Moving the municipal offices from May into the November general election is the immediate solution. While it may complicate the ballot, it simplifies the electoral process, and gets greater turnout for these important local offices. It is allowed by state law, and is a relatively simple change to make.

We're going to see how that works for our school board election this November - the overwhelming popular choice of voters - and should make the same change for all other city offices.

Posted on: 2013/5/18 16:45
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Re: Only ONE Council Seat Decided - ALL Others Up for Grabs
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Agree entirely with the idea of instant runoffs. Also - seems excessive to have a May 14 Municipal Election, a June 4 primary and a June 11 runoff. Getting people to show up for the runoff will be akin to trying to give away free dental surgery.


Why can't the June 4 & the June 11th elections be merged into one day? Besides committee seats, what else is up for election on June 4th? It makes zero sense. My neighbors - my large building had a huge turnout - are tired as heck of elections & the material/canvassing and general pestering that goes with it.

Posted on: 2013/5/18 5:32
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Re: Only ONE Council Seat Decided - ALL Others Up for Grabs
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Agree entirely with the idea of instant runoffs. Also - seems excessive to have a May 14 Municipal Election, a June 4 primary and a June 11 runoff. Getting people to show up for the runoff will be akin to trying to give away free dental surgery.


I agree that there is certainly voter fatigue, and not just with the number of times they have to vote, but also with sheer number of candidates and positions for city, county, state and fed.

Instant runoffs typically increase independent and minority representation. People are more inclined to vote for an independent as their first choice know that they have a "next best" choice being counted. Boggiano and Yun probably would have won easily on the first count. Walker may have made a bigger impact on the mayoral race. And the Healy team would have certainly grabbed one of the at-large seats, giving the way ranked voting works and the way votes cascade.

The biggest potential drawback of instant runoffs is that it can lead to fragmented and ineffectual government. Be careful what you wish for.

Posted on: 2013/5/18 5:17
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Re: Only ONE Council Seat Decided - ALL Others Up for Grabs
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Agree entirely with the idea of instant runoffs. Also - seems excessive to have a May 14 Municipal Election, a June 4 primary and a June 11 runoff. Getting people to show up for the runoff will be akin to trying to give away free dental surgery.

Posted on: 2013/5/18 3:10
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Re: Only ONE Council Seat Decided - ALL Others Up for Grabs
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Ah here we go "Instant runoff voting" and Australia, India, Ireland, and some cities in the US all use it in some form.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Instant-runoff_voting


I've been advocating this for years. I asked Fulop about it when he was for changing the election date, and he said it would need a change of state law, not that he was for it. There's possibilities of it getting messy, but what we have is a mess.

A Zimmer supporter in Hoboken explained to me that had there been IR there in her 1st mayoral election she would have lost to Beth Mason, who was the 2nd choice of many Zimmer opponents. The IR elimination of candidates would have concentrated those votes in a way the runoff didn't, though I don't quite follow how. I'll ask again I guess.

Posted on: 2013/5/17 21:21
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Re: Only ONE Council Seat Decided - ALL Others Up for Grabs
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Ah here we go "Instant runoff voting" and Australia, India, Ireland, and some cities in the US all use it in some form.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Instant-runoff_voting

Posted on: 2013/5/17 19:40
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Re: Only ONE Council Seat Decided - ALL Others Up for Grabs
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FINAL NUMBERS FINALLY IN: Can someone recalculate based the numbers below based on 100% reporting



When I spoke to the City Clerk on Election Day, the # he told me Watterman had to cross was higher than the number posted in the final tally, which means a runoff is still happening.

Posted on: 2013/5/17 19:39
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Re: Only ONE Council Seat Decided - ALL Others Up for Grabs
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What we should have is a ranked system, like some places (can't recall where) have. So you might vote in the following manner:

1: Fletch
2: Levin
3: Osborne

In this instance, if the voting breakdown were
Osborne: 30%
Levin: 30%
Fletch: 20%

Then rather than having a runoff, since your first choice wasn't among the top two, your vote would apply to the highest-ranked person in the top two (Levin).

I know I have heard of other places using systems like this, and it would prevent runoffs, saving us time and money. It would be a bit confusing to implement and explain at first, but I think people would grasp the idea pretty quickly.

Posted on: 2013/5/17 19:38
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Re: Only ONE Council Seat Decided - ALL Others Up for Grabs
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Still trying to understand the at-large run off election requirement. Is the threshold (explained below, but not clearly) determined by the original election, or the June 11 election voter count? Can someone please translate?

From NJ.com

...

Fulop's at-large team -- RLavarro, Daniel Rivera and the Rev. Joyce Watterman -- were the highest vote-getters in that race last night, but they didn't cross a statutory threshold to avoid a runoff. They will now face Healy's team: Richardson, Councilman at large Peter Brennan and former mayoral aide Omar Perez.

The rules for an at-large runoff are a little more complicated than those for the ward races. In order to win outright, one at-large candidate has to get votes from more than 50 percent of the voters who cast a ballot in the at-large race. If at least one candidate achieves that threshold, the next two highest vote-getters win, too, no matter whose mayoral slate they are on and no matter how small their vote totals are.

Watterman was the highest vote-getter last night, with initial estimates putting her haul at 14,756. She would have had to get at least 15,834 votes to win (that's half of the total number of voters who voted in the at-large race, plus one) and bring the next two highest vote-getters into office with her, City Clerk Robert Byrne said last night.

The rules are so confusing, Richardson last night conceded defeat to The Jersey Journal before Byrne notified her and Brennan that they hadn't lost.

http://www.nj.com/hudson/index.ssf/20 ... lection.html#incart_river


FINAL NUMBERS FINALLY IN: Can someone recalculate based the numbers below based on 100% reporting.

Jersey City Council-At-Large
181/181 100.00%
Vote Count Percent
NP - Peter M. BRENNAN 1B 10,921 12.74%
NP - Viola S. RICHARDSON 2B 12,186 14.22%
NP - Omar PEREZ 3B 10,107 11.79%
NP - 0 0.00%
NP - Ramon ''Ray'' REGALADO 5B 3,442 4.02%
NP - Sean M. CONNELLY 6B 4,186 4.88%
NP - 0 0.00%
NP - Joyce E. WATTERMAN 8B 15,170 17.70%
NP - Daniel RIVERA 9B 14,629 17.07%
NP - Rolando R. LAVARRO, Jr. 10B 15,000 17.50%
Personal Choice 79 0.09%
Total 85,720 100.00%


Posted on: 2013/5/17 19:28
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Re: Only ONE Council Seat Decided - ALL Others Up for Grabs
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bjay wrote:
errence, do you know the answer as to whether we have the type of counters described below? It's still not at all clear to me that the runoff is legally necessary for the at-large candidates.


The voting machines do have these counters. Those #s weren't on the unofficial election tally I have, so I don't know them, but county election folks do.

The clerk has assured me, in no uncertain terms, that there aren't enough provisionals to get Watterman (the leading vote-getter in the at-large race) over the threshold that would bring in the other two top finishers. He may be certifying the results today, so I may post something later confirming the final numbers.

Posted on: 2013/5/17 14:57
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Re: Only ONE Council Seat Decided - ALL Others Up for Grabs
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I had posted this on the "Election Results" thread a couple days ago. Terrence, do you know the answer as to whether we have the type of counters described below? It's still not at all clear to me that the runoff is legally necessary for the at-large candidates.

Quote:

bjay wrote:
Quote:

T-Bird wrote:
The voting machines now count how many people vote for at-large candidates.


T-Bird, are you sure that there's a counter to see how many people placed at least one vote for an at-large candidate? I don't see a reference to that on the official county clerk voting results page. Just the count of the total number of people who cast any ballot, which was 39,078.

If indeed we do have voting machines that track the number of voters who cast at least one at-large vote, then we should hope that number is 29,510 or less. 29,510 divided by 2, plus 1, is 14,756, and that's the number of votes received by Joyce Watterman (the top vote-getter). New Jersey Statutes Section 40:45-18 says that if at least one candidate received a majority, the top three candidates are elected without a runoff necessary, and "majority" is defined as half the number of voters who cast at least one vote for an at-large candidate, plus one.

But old voting machines don't have that sub-counter, just an overall counter. And if we don't have that sub-counter, then srg1 is correct. The formula is in New Jersey Statute 40:45-18:

"Voting machines to be used in the election shall be equipped, as soon as practicable, with one or more counters so connected as to keep a tally of the number of voters who cast votes for one or more of the candidates for councilman-at-large (or commissioner, or village trustee). Until suitable counters have been provided, or whenever the tally of the number of voters cannot be determined for any reason, then the number constituting the majority of the votes cast shall be computed by adding all the votes cast for each candidate for that office, dividing that total by twice the number of councilmen-at-large ... to be elected and then adding one."

There were 83,473 votes cast for at-large candidates. Divide by 6, then add 1, and a "majority" is defined as 13,913 votes. That would mean Watterman, Lavarro and Rivera each exceeded the majority and no runoff would be needed.

But if Watterman didn't receive a "majority" under whichever method is correct, then we have to have a runoff according to section 40:45-19. That section provides that the number of candidates will be twice the number of seats there are to fill. And if that happens, the runoff will be between 6 candidates: Watterman, Lavarro, Rivera, Richardson, Brennan and Perez. Connelly and Regaldo are out.

Can someone answer the question about what type of voting machines we have, and whether there was a counter of how many people cast at least one vote for an at-large seat?

Posted on: 2013/5/17 14:28
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Re: Only ONE Council Seat Decided - ALL Others Up for Grabs
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radryan03 wrote:
I see this as an interesting turning point for our city.

Clearly DT cared enough to vote (consistently). The rest of Jersey City doesnt seem to care enough to even select their own representation.

I am not arguing a good or bad point here... Does this mean we are at the beggining of a new Jersey City, where the ways of DT will start to consume the surrounding neighborhoods?


I'd put a slightly different spin on it. Steve would have won this election even if you didn't count his Ward E votes and you did count Healy's Ward E votes. I don't think it's fair to say the other wards didn't care who represented them.

Downtown turnout has in the past been the same or less than the other wards. People everywhere had little faith that their votes mattered and that the city government could be removed from an entrenched machine. So why bother to learn about the candidates and vote?

In Ward E we were inspired by a leader who showed us that through hard work and determination, change can come. We reformed the school board and attracted a nationally admired superintendent. We gained a majority on the city council. The mayoralty was in sight. We were energized. We voted for Fulop with a huge jump in turnout

The rest of the city did not know Steve and his record as well, and their image of him was shaped as much by the Healy campaign as by the truth. The other wards were voting against Healy or simply for change as much as they were voting for Fulop. They were not as energized.

If Fulop fulfills his promise and really changes the way things work around here, he will give the people in the other wards a positive reason to vote going forward. At least I hope so.

Posted on: 2013/5/17 1:02
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Re: Only ONE Council Seat Decided - ALL Others Up for Grabs
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Quote:

dtjcview wrote:
Quote:

radryan03 wrote:
I see this as an interesting turning point for our city.

Clearly DT cared enough to vote (consistently). The rest of Jersey City doesnt seem to care enough to even select their own representation.

I am not arguing a good or bad point here... Does this mean we are at the beggining of a new Jersey City, where the ways of DT will start to consume the surrounding neighborhoods?


I think the concern has to be the opposite for Ward E in the run-off. Getting people out to vote for the at-large candidates again, when Ward E is already decided.


Exactly! And helping your neighboring pocket of Ward F that use to be in Ward E (the Van Vorst area west of Jersey Ave.) get their people out since those voters are essentially out and about in the DT area.


Posted on: 2013/5/17 0:02
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Re: Only ONE Council Seat Decided - ALL Others Up for Grabs
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radryan03 wrote:
I see this as an interesting turning point for our city.

Clearly DT cared enough to vote (consistently). The rest of Jersey City doesnt seem to care enough to even select their own representation.

I am not arguing a good or bad point here... Does this mean we are at the beggining of a new Jersey City, where the ways of DT will start to consume the surrounding neighborhoods?


I think the concern has to be the opposite for Ward E in the run-off. Getting people out to vote for the at-large candidates again, when Ward E is already decided.

Posted on: 2013/5/16 20:35
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