Challenger Tim Occhipinti claimed victory in the 4th Ward Council special election Tuesday evening, after the voting machine totals were announced. Occhipinti received 841 votes to 748 for incumbent Mike Lenz. More than 500 vote-by-mail votes have yet to be counted, but Occhipinti made a special effort to get his supporters to vote by mail, and most observers expect him to prevail there as well.

Flanked by fellow council members Mike Russo, Beth Mason, Theresa Castellano, Occhipinti greeted his supporters shortly after 8 p.m. and said, "What started as a dream you have made reality for me."

But Lenz was not giving up. "I'm neither conceding nor not conceding," he told reporters. "There was a big margin, but there was a lot of cheating." The Lenz campaign has already filed a challenge to some of the vote-by-mail ballots. 

Lenz said he had not called Occhipinti Tuesday evening.

With Lenz were Mayor Dawn Zimmer, council members Peter Cunningham, Carol Marsh and Dave Mello, who is a 4th Ward resident.

Occhipinti's election means Mayor Zimmer loses her 5-4 council majority and ensures further clashes between the mayor and council.

The machine voting totals, by district:

District 4.1 - 193 for Occhipinti; 223 for Lenz
District 4.2 - 184 for Occhipinti, 435 for Lenz
District 4.3 - 172 for Occhipinti, 102 for Lenz
District 4.4 - 292 for Occhipinti, 21 for Lenz

The campaigns of both incumbent Lenz and challenger Occhippinti worked furiously all day, with representatives of both campaigns coloring the Fourth Ward's street corners blue and yellow or green. 

The 4th Ward race is the only council contest in Hoboken this fall. The rest of Hoboken voted in the 13th Congressional District race between incumbent Democrat Albio Sires versus newcomer Republican Henrietta Dwyer, and Hudson County sheriff, where Frank Schillari is trying to unseat incumbent Juan Perez.

Lenz voted at 10 a.m. on Tuesday, together with his wife. Occhipinti walked in with his campaign spokesman, volunteer John Castellano and Hoboken Lt. Ken Ferrante at 11 a.m. to cast his vote. Mayor Dawn Zimmer and her husband Stan Grossbard cast their votes at 10:15 a.m.

The Occhipinti campaign ran a shuttle bus from 400 First St. to the different polling locations during the day, to provide transportation to the polls for those who needed it.

In front of 411 Marshall Dr., one of the polling stations, a group of Occhipinti supporters—including Councilman Michael Russo, Assemblyman Ruben Ramos and involved resident Perry Belfiore—discussed their final efforts to get out the vote. 

"We're knocking on doors and making phone calls," said Russo. "We know who our voters are ... we need to pull out as many as we can."

Director of Public Safety Angel Alicea campaigned for Lenz at 411 Marshall Dr. around 4 p.m.  Alicea served as a commissioner on the Hoboken Housing Authority Board from 1989 to 2008, when he was not reappointed by the council. 

"I've been doing this for 26 years," said Alicea. "I'm here to support the person best for the Fourth Ward."

Lenz will most likely sit on the council on Wednesday night, for the council's first November meeting. It usually takes a few days for the county to certify the elections, explained City Clerk Jimmy Farina. Farina predicted that the official certification for the winner of the Fourth Ward elections would be certified on Friday. 

As of Monday afternoon, 617 vote-by-mail ballots had been requested and 512 had been returned to the Board of Elections. Some of those ballots have been challenged by the Lenz campaign. 

That legal challenge was on the minds of both campaigns throughout the day, although it was not resolved Tuesday.

On Tuesday afternoon, representatives for both campaigns were set to appear in front of the Board of Elections in Jersey City, where the Lenz campaign planned to challenge more than 100 of the vote-by-mail ballots that have been submitted so far, accusing the Occhipinti campaign of voter fraud.

According to Lenz campaign manager Sam Briggs, Michael Harper, Hudson County Board of Elections clerk, said the panel is waiting from a report from Superintendent of Elections Marie Borace, who spent time in the Fourth Ward on Tuesday, in either an observational capacity or to interview voters as part of an investigation.

But late Tuesday, the Board of Elections decided it would not hear the challenge until later.

The Lenz campaign has organized the votes it wants to challenge into groups, said Briggs. The votes will be challenged in batches: votes ineligible because the residents don't officially live in the Fourth Ward, former ward residents who have moved away, voters they think were paid, voters who signed affidavits saying they were paid, or a combination of multiple factors.  

The Board of Elections will dismiss any ballots with technical problems, said Briggs, such as those not filled in entirely, meaning the Lenz camp will not have to challenge those.

Goldberg said the Occhipinti campaign welcomed the ballot challenge process. "We're all in favor of open, honest elections. They've been doing investigations, and that's fine," he said. "We're open and honest here."

But, he was also optimistic his side would prevail. "We expect the judge to apply the law and count these votes," he said. "I fully expect every vote to count."

Alan Skontra contributed reporting.