Dear Editor:
The vote to change the election to November to increase voter participation is now a false statement, more people voted for mayor/council in May 2013 (over 40,000) than they did in the November 2015. The recent election was a county race and the county executive basically received similar votes that were cast in our May, 2013 mayor/council race. But here is the difference; Jersey City is only 38 percent of the county’s population. And as stated by Bill Matsikoudis during the council meeting, more people voted in the May 2013 race than the November 2013 for governor.
So why the immediate rush? Mayor Fulop is using Jersey City as his stepping stone for higher office. He wants another shot at being mayor when he loses the primary race for governor.
The November race is a partisan race with basically Democrats and Republicans. When you place a non-partisan race without labels of Democrats and Republicans you give an edge to the candidate beneath or near the Democratic line. We saw this happened in 1992, when a candidate was placed near the Democratic line and received 3,000 more votes without spending a nickel on his campaign.
Fulop is so desperate for this passage that the final hearing will be Tuesday November 24th, two days before Thanksgiving. I am sure Fulop’s hopes many will travel that week and will not be able to attend the meeting.
Yvonne Balcer