Incumbents leading in most Paterson council races
UPDATE: Incumbents all hold leads in Paterson council races. Here's why that might change
PATERSON – Three incumbents – in the 4th, 5th, and 6th wards - built up strong leads in Paterson’s City Council elections on Tuesday, according to political insiders and campaign workers.
But the outcomes in the fiercely fought battles in the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd wards could not be determined on Election night.
As of 11:30 p.m. – or three-and-a-half hours after the polls closed – Passaic County election officials had not released any preliminary numbers. The Paterson Press could not reach County Clerk Danielle Ireland-Imhof on Tuesday night for an explanation for the lack of numbers.
In previous Paterson municipal elections, partial results often have been released by 10 p.m. and vote totals for most precincts often are made public by 11 p.m.
Political insiders and campaign workers said 1st Ward Councilman Michael Jackson had a slight lead over challenger Fannia Santana, who was backed by Mayor Andre Sayegh and leaders of the Passaic County Democratic Party. But political operatives said they expect Santana to get a boost from the vote-by-mail ballots.
In the 2nd Ward, Sayegh-backed incumbent Shahin Khalique was trailing based on Election Day totals at the polls, but had passed his primary challenger, Aheya Khan, as results started coming in from mail-in ballots and early voting, said political sources.
Council President Alex Mendez was behind longtime former councilman Bill McKoy in the 3rd ward based on Election Day votes, but pulled ahead after getting significant support through mail-in ballots, political strategists said.
Officials haven’t received all the votes yet. Mail-in ballots postmarked May 14 must be counted as long as they arrive at Passaic County election offices by the end of the week.
Also, officials must decide which provisional ballots should be counted. Under state law, people who run into problems casting their votes at the polls because of such things as home address discrepancies are allowed to submit provisional ballots.
The Passaic County Board of Elections next week will review the provisional ballots and decided which should be counted and which should not. There have been hundreds of provisional ballots cast in recent Paterson elections.
There was no drama about the outcome in the 6th Ward. Incumbent Al Abdelaziz, co-chairman of the Paterson Democratic Party, prevailed in a landslide over challenger Abed Thabatah. Abdelaziz was predicting late Tuesday night that he may have won by the largest percentage in any Paterson ward race in more than three decades.
“I’m very honored and happy that the 6th Ward voters are bringing me back,” said Abdelaziz. “The work we’ve done has made the 6th Ward the safest in the city.”
Incumbents Ruby Cotton in the 4th Ward and Luis Velez in the 5th seemed on their way to victories, political insiders said.
This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: Incumbents leading in most Paterson council races
