Hundreds Request Vote-By-Mail Ballots

The Hudson County Board of Elections received 826 requests to vote by mail in Tuesday's city council election, according to the list of requests from the board. As of late afternoon on Monday, 562 vote-by-mail ballots were returned, according to Michael Harper, the board's clerk.

The highest concentrations of ballots requested were in the Third, Fourth and Sixth Wards.

The breakdown is as follows: First Ward: 55 ballots requested, Second Ward: 72 ballots requested, Third Ward: 135 ballots requested, Fourth Ward: 398 ballots requested, Fifth Ward: 74 ballots requested and Sixth Ward: 93 ballots requested.

The number of vote-by-mail ballots—often referred to by its outdated term "absentee ballots"—in an election has become a  point of contention in Hoboken elections. In November, during a special election in the Fourth Ward, Councilman Tim Occhipinti received roughly 400 votes by mail, many of them from hundreds of paid campaign workers.

Vote-by-mail ballots can be sent back to the Board of Elections or returned  in person by so-called bearers. Among the bearers listed on the Board of Elections' vote-by-mail count are Michele Russo (Councilman Michael Russo's mother) and campaign volunteer Matt Calicchio, which indicates that many of the vote by mail ballots will go to opponents of Mayor Dawn Zimmer.

In this election, Zimmer is fighting to regain the majority on the city council, which she lost after Occhipinti was elected in November.

According to Harper, the number of returned vote-by-mail ballots should increase during the day on Tuesday.