By Walter Elliott
NEWARK – There are contests for state, county and municipal elective seats on the Nov. 2 General Election ballot.
Finding a contest or contests, however, is a matter of which town a participating registered voter is in and whether an opposing party or an independent runner’s challenge had made that ballot.
Those dissatisfied with the runners on the ballot may submit his or her own write-in candidate. “Local Talk,” as of Oct. 18, does not know of anyone making a concerted write-in campaign.
Also on the ballot are two statewide public question referenda plus single questions in Maplewood and Montclair as well as boards of education elections in eight “Local Talk” towns. Details are found in Local Talk’s Sept. 30 edition.
GOVERNOR – LT. GOVERNOR
Incumbent Democrats Phil Murphy, of Rumson, and Sheila Y. Oliver, of East Orange, are making their second and last runs for Governor and Lieutenant Governor. The 1947 State Constitution prohibits incumbents from running for more than two consecutive terms.
Republicans Jack Ciattarelli, of Hillsborough, and Diane Allen, of Moorestown, are the major party challengers.
Joanne Kuniansky, of Newark, and Vivian M. Sahner, of Union City, are on the Socialist Workers Party ticket.
Madelyn R. Hoffman, of Flanders, and Heather Warburton, of Hammonton, are the Green Party’s candidates.
Gregg Mele, of Bridgewater, and Eveline Brownstein, of Rumson, are on the Libertarian Party platform.
Voters are to pick a state senator and two general assembly members per STATE LEGISLATURE DISTRICT. Which LD you are in may change once 2020 U.S. Census-driven state and federal redistricting, done every 10 years, is finalized for the 2023 elections.
Legislative District 27 (South Orange, Maplewood, West Orange, five “West Essex,” six Morris County Municipalities):
The State Senate race is between incumbent Richard Codey (D-Roseland) and challenger Adam Kraemer (R-West Orange).
The General Assembly contests pit incumbent Democrats Mila Jasey, of South Orange, and John McKeon, of West Orange against challenging Republican Millburnites Kevin Ryan and Jonathan Sym.
LD 28 (Irvington, Bloomfield, Glen Ridge, Nutley, parts of Newark’s South and West Wards):
The State Senate race has incumbent Ronald L. Rice (D-Newark) jousting with challenger Frank Contella (R-Nutley).
The General Assembly contests pit incumbents Cleopatra Tucker (D-Newark) and Ralph Caputo (D-Bloomfield) against challengers Anthony D’Angelo and Monique Headen (both R-Newark)
LD 29 (Belleville, Remainder of Newark):
State Senate incumbent M. Teresa Ruiz (D-Newark) is running without known competition. Meanwhile, the General Assembly ballot has incumbent Democrats Shanique Speight and Elana Pinto Marin up against “Salters for All” independent Debra Salters. All three are from Newark.
The Essex Republican Party Organization did not field any candidates here.
LD 34 (East Orange, Orange, Montclair, Passaic County’s Clifton):
The State Senate contest is an all-Montclair battle among incumbent Democrat Nia Gill, Republican challenger Scott Pollack and “Stop the Insanity” independent Clenard H. Childress, Jr.
The General Assembly contests feature incumbents Thomas Giblin (D-Montclair) and Britnee Timberlake (D-East Orange) against challengers Irene DeVita and Tafari K. Anderson (both R-Clifton)
The ESSEX COUNTY SHERIFF race is between incumbent Armando Fontoura (D-Fairfield) and challenger Nicholas G. Pansini (R-Bloomfield).
MUNICIPAL ELECTIONS
In EAST ORANGE, city voters, barring an exception, are to ratify the East Orange and Essex County democratic committees’ “Team Green” for mayor and half of their ward city council members.
Theodore “Ted” Green is seeking his third straight term as mayor.
Respective First, Third, Fourth and Fifth Ward incumbents Christopher Jones, Bergson Leneus, Tameika Garrett-Ward and Alicia Holman are running with Green and unopposed on their ballots.
Team Green / incumbent Christopher Awe and “Independently Empowering the Community” independent Simone Jelks-Bandison are squaring off for the Second Ward council seat.
In MAPLEWOOD, Incumbent Nancy Adams and newcomer Jemaime Cripe are running for both Township Committee seats. The Democrats are running unopposed.
In GLEN RIDGE, incumbent Ann Marie Morrow and first-time runner Rebecca Meyer are running for both Borough Council seats. They are running with Civic Conference Committee endorsement – and unopposed.
Picking candidates and deciding on public questions can start today now that the Essex County Clerk and Board of Elections are accepting Vote By Mail Ballots. VBVMs can either get mailed no later than 8 p.m. Nov. 2 with a postmark or deposited in a designated dropbox.
There is at least one dropbox per Essex County municipality. Montclair and South Orange have two locations each and Newark five. Check essexclerk.com for their addresses.
Those who want to vote early in person may do so Oct. 23-31 10 a.m.-8 p.m. weekdays and 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Sundays. Consult essexclerk.com for the early polling stations in Bloomfield, East Orange, Irvington and West Orange (one each) plus Newark (four).
The county clerk and board of elections superintendent will post or publish a full list of Nov. 2 polling stations in the days ahead.
Those who want to vote in person but have already received their VBMBs are out of luck this election. Aug. 31 was the mail ballot opt-out deadline.
Oct. 12 was this election’s voter registration deadline. One can still call the county clerk and/or elections superintendent to verify registration, have not received a VBMB – or other questions or problems.
The New Jersey Department of State’s Division of Elections, as of Oct. 19, has reported that Garden Staters have already returned 312,099 of the 925,155 VBMBs that were mailed out last month for this election.
The so-far mailed or dropped-off ballots are 33.7 percent of what the counties have mailed out. Those returned ballots, compared to the 6,561, 568 pool of statewide registered voters, amounts to five percent of the said electorate.
