Kids First Victories Confirmed

Patricia Waiters and Kyelia Colon appeared in Superior Court in Jersey City and then took part in a petition to check voting machines results this morning at the Hudson County Board of Elections, where the victories of Kids First candidates Irene Sobolov, Leon Gold and Rose Marie Markle were confirmed.

Also, the 48 provisional ballots—which were divided into 23 emergency ballots and 25 provisional ballots—were counted just after noon today and, when those votes were factored in, the results of the election did not change.

Of those 48, Markle captured 16 provisional votes and Independent candidate John Madigan got 10. 

Colon said she didn't expect the County Clerk's petition would necessarily change the results of the election, but she wanted to ensure that all votes were counted as accurately as possible. And she hoped they might find a few more emergency votes that might make the race a little closer or even swing the results to their favor, but admitted that probability was a long shot.

"If they [Kids First] were on the losing end, they would want to do a whole election over," declared Colon. "I don't. I want everything counted and then we can move forward."

At the Board of Elections, Leon Gold and Rose Marie Markle, who ran on the Kids First slate along with Irene Sobolov and were declared winners by the Hoboken City Clerk's office late Tuesday night, were also on hand for the petition.

As Colon had expected the case might be, the election results were unchanged after the petition was executed. In fact, the search for additional votes only solidified the victories for the Kids First slate.

The petition, granted because a poll worker in Ward 6, District 6 forgot to properly enter information contained in one voting machine cartridge, revealed additional votes entered through the use of emergency ballots.

Among those emergency ballots, Sobolov won an additional 34 votes and Gold picked up an additional 32 votes. In the only race that was tight enough to be in question, Markle picked up an additional 25 votes, to an additional 12 votes picked up by Madigan (these numbers can also be found on the pdf with this story). Waiters and Colon each got two votes of the additional ballots found in the machine.

After Tuesday night, Markle held a 66-vote lead over Madigan, 1,322 to 1,256. With the plus-13 in the additional votes found at the recount, she extended her lead over Madigan to 79 votes. When the 48 provisional votes were counted today, Markle picked up another six votes on Madigan (16-10, total), said Hudson County Board of Elections Clerk Mike Harper, bringing the total to 1,338 to 1,266. When factored in with the votes revealed by the petition, those numbers brought Markle's total unofficial margin of victory to 85 votes, 1,363 to 1,278. (Those numbers should be confirmed and certified next week).

While the petition to search for additional votes and counting of the provisional votes would appear to bring a close to what had been an often contentious campaign leading up the election, that may not be the case. Patricia Waiters said she plans to continue fighting the results with Hudson County Clerk Barbara Netchert.

Waiters still contends potential votes were lost when poll workers told senior citizens they either couldn't vote or needed to return at a later time to vote. Waiters also bristled at Mayor Dawn Zimmer's endorsement of the Kids First slate. While it wasn't illegal for Zimmer to have made an endorsement, Waiters said, "it was unethical for Zimmer to endorse candidates in the Board of Education election." Moreover, Waiters accused Zimmer of going door-to-door in Hoboken to campaign for the Kids First slate.

Patch called mayor Zimmer's office for a response today, but was unable to reach her for comment.

Waiters said was particularly dismayed with the results of this election, so much so that she said she plans to remove her two children from the school system and place them in a Catholic school or a charter school. She said she's run for council-at-large and mayor in previous years and lost and each time accepted the results gracefully.

Colon said she got what she wanted out of the petition—for all votes to be counted accurately.

"I ran a clean campaign," said Colon. "And I am happy with the results.