KEARNY –
Worried that you- haven’t yet received your sample ballot for the Nov. 8 general election?
At last week’s Town Council meeting, Mayor Alberto Santos touched on the subject when he mentioned the “record number of voter registrations in New Jersey” triggered by the presidential contest.
Some of the new registrations were done through the state Motor Vehicle Commission, as permitted by state law, and apparently an unknown number of those experienced “delays” in being transmitted to county elections offices, Santos said.
People who registered with the DMC should expect to see their sample ballots this week, the mayor added.
But if not, he said, those folks should “reach out to the municipal or county clerk” to verify they are, in fact, on the voting list “because without that [verification], they can only vote with a written provisional ballot.”
In Hudson County, the evidence shows that this year’s political contest is generating a lot more interest among the civic-minded population than there was four years ago.
According to figures furnished by the Hudson County superintendent of elections office, as of the Oct. 18 deadline, a total of 343,502 people had registered to vote, among them 184,098 Democrats, 30,258 Republicans and 127,912 Unaffiliated (independent).
And, one elections employee noted, there will likely be additional voters added to the rolls after the final tally is completed.
By contrast, comparable numbers reported in October 2012 showed a total of 248,836 registered in Hudson County, of whom 146,706 declared themselves as Dems, 22,790 as members of the GOP and 78,377 as Unaffiliated.
Here is how the numbers broke out in Kearny:
This year, a total of 18,404 registered to vote: 8,228 as Democrats, 2,163 as Republicans and 7,954 as Unaffiliated. In 2012, of the 13,915 registrants, there were 6,679 Dems, 1,809 Republicans and 5,408 Unaffiliated.
In Harrison, this year a total of 6,332 registered vs. 4,490 four years ago. Of this year’s total, there were 3,589 declared Dems, 403 Republicans and 2,318 independents, in contrast to 2012 when 2,801 Dems registered, along with 288 Republicans and 1,393 independents.
And, in East Newark, a total of 967 registered this year vs. 656 in 2012. This year, there were 644 Dems, 38 Republicans and 280 independents. Four years ago, 488 Dems registered, along with 29 Republicans and 139 independents.
Essex County registered a total of 531,986 voters this year. The 2012 total was not readily available.
Of this year’s total registrants, Belleville accounted for 22,503 of whom 8,804 were declared Dems, 2,994 Republicans and 10,660 Unaffiliated.
Nutley generated 20,900 registered voters. Of those, 6,602 were Dems and 4,339 Republicans.
No registration information could be secured from the Bergen County superintendent of elections office as of press time.
For the forgetful among us, in the 2012 presidential race Dems President Barack Obama and Vice President Joseph Biden were returned to office after defeating the GOP challengers Mitt Romney, who ran for president, and Sen. Paul Ryan, his vice presidential candidate.
The Obama/Biden ticket garnered 65,915,795 of the popular vote (51.1%) vs. 60,733,504 (47.2%) for the Romney/Ryan team. The Dems took 26 states plus the District of Columbia while the Republicans captured 24 states. In the electoral vote, where 270 are needed to win, Obama/Biden easily outdistanced Romney/Ryan by 332 to 206.
Next week, it’s Hillary Clinton/Tim Kaine for the Dems taking on Donald Trump/Mike Pence for the GOP in the presidential sweepstakes and every vote counts so don’t neglect it.
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