BY WALTER ELLIOTT
NEWARK – “General Election Season,” which has been ramping up since Labor Day, may have come to your doorstep by now.
The General Election sample ballots and Vote By Mail Ballots, sent by Essex County Clerk Chris Durkin and Superintendent of Elections should have arrived in your mailbox. The ballots serve as a guide to which candidates are running for which elective offices in your municipality, school district, and state and federal legislative districts.
While there is still a General Election Day, when votes and ballots are taken until 8 p.m., Nov. 8, it could be called a season given the early voting and VBMB periods.
Early voting polling stations are to be open 10 a.m. – 8 p.m. Oct. 29 and Oct. 31 – Nov. 5 and 10 a.m. – 6 p.m. Oct. 30 and Nov. 6. Newark is to have four early voting stations; Bloomfield, East Orange, Irvington, West Orange, Fairfield and Verona have one each.
VBMBs are to be accepted in 27 drop box locations across Essex County Nov. 1 – 8 p.m. Nov. 8. While every county municipality gets at least one drop box, Newark gets three more drop boxes plus an extra one each in Montclair, South Orange and West Orange.
Nov. 1 is the last day to ask the county for a VBMB. Those who receive the mail-in ballots are committed to mailing them back with a Nov. 8 postmark or put into a drop box by 8 p.m. that Tuesday. Those who encounter VBMB or other voting problem may still vote in-person with a provisional ballot.
General Election Season 2020 in “Local Talk” land have 67 candidates vying for 39 elective offices. Those offices range from the U.S. Congress’ House of Representatives to nonpartisan public school board of education with a special State Senate election, a sole Essex County Executive race and mayor and/or council contests in four “Local Talk” towns in between.
Please note that all board of education races and municipal elections in West Orange and Glen Ridge are nonpartisan – even if they do share the General Election ballot. Candidates and/or their tickets who identify themselves with a political party on their literature will be violating the spirit on New Jersey’s laws on nonpartisanship.
U.S. CONGRESS HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
Eighth Congressional District (Newark’s East and North wards, Union County’s Elizabeth and 10 Hudson County towns whole or in part):
Seven candidates are vying to succeed the retiring Albio Sires (D-West New York). Robert J. “Rob” Menendez, (D-Englewood) and Marcos Arroyo (R-West New York) are the major party candidates.
The five independent or “minor party” candidates are: David W. Cook, “People Over Parties; Kearny; Dan Delaney, Libertarian, Hoboken; Joanne Kuriansky, Socialist Workers, W. New York; Pablo Oliveria, Labor, Newark, and John V. Salerno, “Truth and Merit,” Jersey City.
10th CD (Rest of Newark, Irvington, East Orange, Orange, West Orange, Montclair’s Fourth Ward, three “West Essex” towns and eight Union County towns whole or in part):
Incumbent Donald M. Payne, Jr. (D-Newark) is looking for voters to help him fend off four challengers. David H. Pinckney, of Irvington, is the Republican challenger.
Montclair pastor Rev. Clenard Howard Childress, Jr. is running in the Mahali Party. Cynthia A. Johnson, of Glen Ridge, is under her “Jobs & Justice” standard. Kendal Ledden, of Bayonne is running as a Libertarian.
11th CD (South Orange, Maplewood, Belleville, Bloomfield, the rest of Montclair, seven “West Essex,” four “Southwestern” Passaic and 25 Morris County towns):
Incumbent Mikie Sherrill (D-Montclair) is pitted against Paul DeGroot (R-Montville) and Libertarian Party runner Joseph Biasco (L-Lincoln Park).
N.J. 28TH LEGISLATIVE DISTRICT SPECIAL STATE SENATE ELECTION
(Irvington, Bloomfield, Glen Ridge, Nutley, parts of Newark’s West, North and South wards).
Incumbent Democrat Renee C. Burgess, of Irvington and Newark South Ward Republican District Leader Joy Bembry Freeman are asking voters in the “outgoing” 28th District to be voted into the remainder of the retired Ronald C. Rice’s remaining term.
Former Irvington Council President Burgess was appointed by Essex County Democratic Committee leaders to succeed Rice, who retired to concentrate on his health, Oct. 1. That appointed term expires in Jan. 1.
Freeman received enough petition signatures and the Essex County Republican Party Organization nomination to make the Nov. 8 ballot.
Whoever wins LD 28th voters’ approval Nov. 8 could be running for a full four-year term in next year’s “back in synch” State Legislature elections. 2023 will be the first year when the new or redrawn 28th LD – Irvington, South Orange, Maplewood, Newark’s “Southwestern” and West Ward’s Vailsburg and “Southwest” sections plus Union County’s Hillside – is applied.
ESSEX COUNTY EXECUTIVE
Incumbent Joseph N. DiVincenzo, Jr. (D-Roseland) is seeking a record-extending term. Challenging is Adam Kraemer (R-West Orange), who had run for the County Commission Fourth District seat in 2018.
MUNICIPAL COUNCIL/COMMITTEE
WEST ORANGE, despite running nonpartisan candidates on the General Election ballot, may have the liveliest mayor-council campaigns.
Four candidates, for example, are looking to succeed the outgoing Mayor Robert D. Parisi. Incumbent Township Council Members Cindy Matute-Brown, Susan McCartney and Rev. William “Bill” Rutherford are willing to trade their place in the Municipal Building’s Council Chamber for the Mayor’s Office.
Former councilman Joe Krakoviak, who term-limited himself out of the panel in 2020, is also looking to become the township’s chief executive.
Four residents – William Michael Barbee, Ron Charles, Asmeret Ghebremicael and Susan Scarpa – are seeking the two council seats up for grabs.
BLOOMFIELD’s mayoral and at-large candidates, barring upsets, appear to be one-party affairs.
Incumbent Mayor Michael Venezia and Council Members Dr. Wartyna “Tina” Davis, Ted Gamble and Richard Rockwell are all on the Bloomfield Democratic Committee ticket. The Bloomfield Republican Party Organization did not field candidates this year.
GLEN RIDGE’s two Borough Council incumbents – Peter Hughes and Richard Law – are running unopposed. While Hughes and law are running nonpartisan campaigns, they have received endorsement from the borough’s own Civic Conference Committee.
MAPLEWOOD’s Township Committee General Election this year has literally come down to one person, one vote – barring an unanticipated write-in campaign.
Incumbent Deborah Engel is running on the Democratic ticket. She is anticipated to succeed outgoing former mayor Frank McGehee. The township’s Republican Committee has not nominated a candidate.
BOARDS OF EDUCATION
MONTCLAIR takes top billing here by holding its first-ever November Board of Education and Public Question Referendum. There are three three-year seats up for grabs.
Sole incumbent Mfreke “Monk” Inyang is seeking a full three-year term. He and another candidate were elected to two new seats on the Montclair Board of Education last March.
Challenging are Yvonne W. Bourknight (“Transparency, Equity, Diversity”), Brian Fleischer and Noah Gale (“Protect Special Education.”)
The March special election expanded the former mayor-appointed seven-member board to an elected nine-member panel. It is part of a three-year transition process that a majority of Montclair voters started by approving the format change in last November’s referendum.
Registered Montclair voters are also being asked to approve or decline a $187.7 million construction bond issue public question referendum. Montclair Public Schools, by holding its BOE elections with the November General Elections, can only put a public question on the ballot if it will affect over two percent of its school year budget.
ORANGE, which went through a similar three-year board transition process 2018-22, has five candidates – three incumbents and two challengers – on their ballot.
Board President Shawneque Johnson and members Guadalupe Cabio and Sueann Gravesande are seeking re-election together. They are running on their “Children’s Future Matters” ticket.
Former president Tyrone Jon Tarver and 2020 candidate Anthony S. Nimly are running on their “Parents For Excellence” ticket.
WEST ORANGE’s current BOE President Jennifer Tunnicliffe, is seeking her second three-year term. VP Gary Rothstein has declined re-election.
Challenging are Robert “For Our Kids” Ivker and Gregory M. Tynes.
SOUTH ORANGE-MAPLEWOOD two-town election comes down to five challengers contesting for a trio of three-year terms. Incumbent Johanna Wright, of South Orange, withdrew her campaign before Clerk Durkin’s ballot printing deadline.
Maplewoodians Regina Eckert, William R. Gifford III and South Orangeite Nubia Wilson are running together under their “Students Come First” banner. William M. Meyer and Ritu Pancholy, both of South Orange, are on their “Doing Better Together” platform.
BLOOMFIELD BOE President Jill Fischman and member Benjamin Morse plus newcomer Phyllis Gerber are sharing their “Together is Better” platform. Board member Daniel Anderson has declined re-election.
Challengers Josefina Rosairo-Simone and Joshua Trojak are on their “Strong for Kids” platform.
GLEN RIDGE BOE President Elisabeth Ginsburg is the sole incumbent vying against three challengers for the three school board seats. Challenging are Tricia Akiunwande, Darrius K. Dehnad and Steven Lord.
Ginsburg and Akinwande have received CCC endorsement. Dehnad is running for the “GR Parent Alliance.” Lord bills himself as the “Common Sense Candidate.”
Incumbent board member Dr. Heather Yaros-Ramos’ name remains on the ballot although she withdrew from campaigning on Oct. 1. Outgoing Board Vice President Michael de Leeuw has long declined re-election.
In BELLEVILLE, two incumbents and four challengers are vying for three three-year Board of Education Trustee seats.
Incumbents Gabrielle Bennett-Meany and Luis Antonio Muniz, Jr. and newcomer Michael Louis Derro are running under “A Better Belleville” banner. ABB, whose campaign manager is Mayor Michael Melham, has been fielding its council and school board candidates since 2018.
Veteran candidate Lissa Missaggia wants to “Put Children First.” Reuben Angel Rodriguez is under his “Parents for Education” pennant. Former trustee Michael Sheldon is calling for “$500 Tax Rebates.”
In NUTLEY, all six candidates vying for three seats are running mostly solo campaigns. Incumbents Charles Kucinski and Theresa “Teri” Quirk are running under their respective “Experience, Integrity, Stability” and “Your Voice Matters” standards.
Laura Valente and Andrea Pogarsky are sharing their “Looking Forward” platform. Tom D’Elia (“Innovative, Experienced, Invested”) and Emanuele Triggiano (“Excellence in Education”) are also challenging.
Locations for VBMB drop boxes and early voting and Nov. 8 polling stations are found on essexclerk.com’s 2022 Guide to Voting. The same website may be used to ask detailed questions or help sort out voting problems.
