It seems like only yesterday (actually it was March 30) when approximately 100 people came to City Hall to see the candidates for Jersey City mayor and council draw their ballot positions for the May 12 municipal election.
Polls open for Tuesday’s election at 6 a.m. and close at 8 p.m.
Residents can vote for one mayor, one council representative for the ward in which they live, and any three candidates for council-at-large.
The candidates for mayor include:
• Incumbent Jerramiah Healy, who has been mayor for 4.5 years and was formerly a municipal judge and city councilman;
• Activist and business owner Dan Levin;
• Louis Manzo, former state assemblyman;
• L. Harvey Smith, former three-term city councilman and current state assemblyman;
• Phil Webb, a Jersey City police officer for nearly 30 years.
The council candidates are, in order of ballot position:
Council-at-Large (vote for any three) – Abdul Malik, Joseph Cassidy, Betty Outlaw, Lori Serrano, Marie Day, Mariano Vega, Jr., Peter Brennan, Willie Flood, Noemi Velazquez, Frank Scalcione, Ronnie Greco, Andrew Hubsch and Emilio DeLia.
Ward A – Rolando R. Lavarro Jr., Andre Richardson, Michael Sottolano and Frances Thompson.
Ward B – Michael Manzo, Paul Catsandonis, Arthur Williams, Douglas Salters and Phil Kenny.
Ward C – Jimmy King, Craig Bailey, Asim Usman, Norrice Raymaker, Nidia Rivera Lopez and Adela Rohena.
Ward D – Bill Gaughan, James Carroll and Christian Araujo.
Ward E – Jamie Vazquez, Guy Catrillo, Azam Riaz, Joseph Tarrazi and Steven Fulop.
Ward F – Viola Richardson, Ron-Calvin Clark, Omar Barbour, Calvin Hart, Lavern Webb Washington and Tyrone Ballon.
Polls open for Tuesday’s election at 6 a.m. and close at 8 p.m.
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Will there be runoff elections?
Whoever is elected mayor or city councilperson will start serving a four-year term on July 1.
With so many candidates in the field, there is always the possibility of a runoff election. If no candidate for mayor and the six ward council seats gets more than 50 percent of the vote, then the top two vote-getters for mayor and ward council will compete again in elections on Tuesday, June 9.
It’s a bit different for the council-at-large seats. According to Hudson County Board of Elections Clerk Michael Harper, if no one in the council-at-large race gets more than 50 percent, then the top six finishers will go to a runoff. However, if even just one council-at-large candidate gets more than 50 percent of the vote, the top three vote-getters will win the three at-large seats.
And then there is absentee and provisional voting. For those who can’t or don’t want to vote in person, they can fill out and submit an Absentee Ballot Application to the Hudson County Clerk until 3 p.m. on Monday the day before the election. The Hudson County Clerk’s office is located at 583 Newark Ave., which is the Brennan Courthouse.
Provisional voting means a provisional ballot is filled out at the polling place by voters who are for some reason not on the voting rolls. It may be due to a clerical error, for instance. Those ballots are reviewed by county election officials in the days after the election to determine if they are valid.
Anyone who has problems with conduct at the polls or malfunctioning voting machines can call the Hudson County Supervisor of Elections office at (201) 795-6555. Anyone with problems with polling stations not opening on time can call the Hudson County Board of Elections Clerk’s office at (201) 795-6030. And those who feel their voting rights are being threatened can call the New Jersey Division of Elections 24-hour hotline at 1-877-NJVOTER.
Ricardo Kaulessar can be reached at rkaulessar@hudsonrreporter.com.