2014 Election Day in Hudson County: The Aftermath

November 4 was election day in Hudson County: where significant changes were made to the boards of education in Jersey City, Hoboken and West New York, for starters. Here’s a quick bullet point analysis of the results and their implications for the foreseeable future. 

By John Heinis/Hudson County View

• Getting the extremely predictable races out of the way Democratic District 8 (primarily North Bergen) Freeholder-elect Anthony Vainieri was one of the few freeholders that had opposition, yet still received over 8,500 votes. 

• District 5 (Hoboken, Jersey City Heights) Freeholder Anthony Romano ran unopposed but still earned over 7,000 votes, while District 3 Freeholder (Jersey City) Freeholder Gerard Balmir, Jr. netted over 7,700 votes: good for 93.3 percent of the total vote. 

• U.S. Rep Albio Sires (D-8), U.S. Rep. Donald Payne, Jr. (D-10) and U.S. Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ) all decimated the competition by 4-1 margins in Hudson, but did anyone expect anything else to happen?

• As I reported, West New York Mayor Felix Roque’s four-person “Children First” ticket netted a clean sweep at the polls last night. Roque, seemingly overnight, now holds all the cards for the May 17 commissioner election – which ultimately decides the next mayor. 

• I received a healthy dose of hatred for predicting a totally split ticket in WNY, I still say I’m good for a minimum of 2,3 NFL predictions a week though. 

• An electioneering complaint was lobbed against WNY Commissioner of Public Safety/District 7 Freeholder-elect Caridad Rodriguez for allegedly walking into a voting booth with a voter at 430 62nd St. These types of situations have a protocol to follow and can be permissible, so it’s very unlikely anything further will happen, especially since Freeholder Chairman Jose Munoz – the opponent she defeated in June – was at the scene. Still, WNY police and investigators from the Hudson County Board of Elections showed up. 

• In Jersey City, the Jersey City Education Association-backed “Education Matters” slate cleaned up, where new board of education trustee Lorenzo Richardson netted over 12,000 (22 percent) of the vote – a city record for a BOE race. 

• My colleague Michael Shurin evidently has a more reliable crystal ball than I do, going two for three in his predictions for the JC BOE race. I for one would like to see how he’d fair with 16 people running for four BOE seats in Fulop country. 

• The BOE race in the Mile Square City somehow ended up being the most controversial. Sharyn Angley, Monica Stromwall (of the Mayor Dawn Zimmer endorsed “Parents for Progress” ticket) and Peter Biancamano (of the “Parents for Change” ticket) won by very slim margins, though individuals working on both campaigns say they reported “suspicious” vote-by-mail scenarios to the Hudson County board of elections.

• This isn’t the first time in recent memory vote-by-mail has been an issue in a Hoboken election and the city’s favorite anti-hero (to hate?) Hoboken Horse, has a more detailed analysis of the race over at his website.