HOBOKEN – Former 4th Ward Councilman Michael Lenz said on Friday morning that he has not ruled himself into or out of the May 2011 election when the 4th Ward seat is up for grabs once again.
“If Tim Occhipinti is good to his word and works with the mayor when she’s right, which is most of the time, I could support Tim Occhipinti,” Lenz said. “My concern is getting a good council person to represent all of the 4th Ward.”
Lenz also said he will support someone who plans to continue to move the city’s agenda forward.
Occhipinti won on the voting machines by a 50 vote margin. Vote-by-mail ballot statistics have yet to be released on the county website. Both sides believe Occhipinti will dominate the vote-by-mail numbers, because his campaign worked hard to push a vote-by-mail effort.
Those efforts have come into question by the Lenz side, and news out of the Hudson County Board of Elections on Thursday suggested that their claims may have some validity.
The 4th Ward ballots have been impounded for seven days as per a state law, but come next week, some ballots could be sent to the Hudson County Prosecutor’s Office for a potential criminal investigation.
“It has been stated to both campaigns that just based on what we’re seeing right now, we are going to move some stuff on to the prosecutor’s office, but I’m not sure how many [ballots],” said Hudson County Board of Elections Clerk Michael Harper.
Harper said his four member board, split between Democrats and Republicans, cannot make criminal charges, but can refer questionable ballots to the prosecutor’s office. The decision lies solely in the prosecutor’s office whether criminal charges will be pursued. Harper said, contrary to published reports, that next week the board will meet again and will decide which ballots they want to send on to the prosecutor’s office. Still, the election could be certified next week as planned.
“Nothing on our end would delay the election,” Harper said. “From here, next Wednesday or even Thursday, my board will meet again and we’ll look at the rejected ballots and we’ll decide what we want to send on to the prosecutor’s office.”
On Election Day, 20 ballots were thrown out based on signature irregularities for the most part. Another 76 were rejected later for similar issues, which brought the total to 96 ballots rejected.
Assistant City Clerk Jerry Lore said on Friday that the election certification will not take place until next week, and could be as early as Monday.
For more election coverage, read The Hoboken Reporter this weekend. – Ray Smith