Hoboken

Councilwoman Dawn Zimmer

HOBOKEN - 4th Ward Councilwoman Dawn Zimmer has conceded the mayoral election to At-Large Councilman Peter Cammarano. 

At-Large Councilman Peter Cammarano

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The Hudson County Board of Elections just reported to the camps of Cammarano and Zimmer that the at-large councilman has gone ahead by 161 votes in the wake of the board's provisional ballot tally.

The absentee results brokes down as follows: Cammrano, 63; Zimmer, 15.

Provisional vote totals showed 82 for Cammarano and 36 for Zimmer.

The Hudson County Board of Elections just reported to the camps of Hoboken mayoral candidates At-Large Councilman Peter Cammarano and 4th Ward Councilwoman Dawn Zimmer that after having counted 79 absentee ballots this morning, Cammarano now leads by 115 votes.

The Board will shortly report the results of their tally of 122 provisional ballots.

"The days of Tammany Hall and manipulated elections were supposed to belong to another century. We are now in the 21st Century but we seem to be suffering from 19th Century election problems,”

Councilwoman Dawn Zimmer

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Representatives of the Hudson County Board of Elections will count the roughly 150 provisional ballots in the Hoboken mayoral election at 10 a.m. on Friday morning.

"Friday is the big day, I will take it from there," said 4th Ward Councilwoman Dawn Zimmer, who at present trails At-Large Councilman Peter Cammarano by 67 votes.

Hoboken City Hall

UPDATED 

The legal brains and attendant suppporters are in a conference right now at the Hudson County Board of Elections Office trying to figure out what to do next in this prolonged mayoral contest between At-Large Councilman Peter Cammarano and 4th Ward Councilwoman Dawn Zimmer.

As of this moment, Cammarano's up by 67 votes, 6,043 to Zimmer's 5,976, according to Jerry Lore at the Hoboken Clerk's Office.

But that number is not final.

"There are 150 provisional ballots that have not yet been counted and they will not be tallied until tomororw - latest Friday," Lore told PolitickerNJ.com.

The ongoing conference between the mayoral combatants is the chief reason for the delay in the provisional tally, Lore added.

HOBOKEN - Everything just ground to a halt here.

The door to the City Clerk's office is closed as the county pours over fewer than 800 absentee ballots that apparently will decide this runoff election between At-Large Councilman Peter Cammarano and 4th Ward Councilwoman Dawn Zimmer.

Zimmer leads at the moment by 244 votes.

Her council slate of Ravi Bhallla (5,623 votes), Carol Marsh (5,621 votes), and Dave Mello (5,419 votes) has unofficially defeated Cammarano's slate of Vincent Addeo (4,953 votes), Angel Alicea (4,832) and Raul Morales (5,826 votes). 

"Watch your backs," cries a cop on Washington Street to the crowd of Cammarano diehards, including West New York Mayor Sal Vega, that spills off the sidewalk in front of his headquarters on Hoboken's main drag.

Hoboken this evening.

HOBOKEN - A long day of drama has come down to last minute hand-clutching as the late crowd comes home.

"They've got every union in town mobilized against us, we'd appreciate your vote," says Dave Mello, a teacher in the Bronx going to law school nights, who runs on the Zimmer team.

He has the jacket off and the tie loosened as he practically dives into another off-load from the trains making the trudge up Hudson Street.

As they head toward Mello they pass under a storefront bearing the enormous smiling face of Zimmer's archrival Peter Cammarano.

The story that has everyone involved in either campaign gabbing overtime is the earlier day appearance by nearly 200 would-be campaign volunteers, who showed up at Cammarano headquarters claiming a gmail invitation from the at-large councilman's campaign.

4th Ward Councilwoman Dawn Zimmer campaigns in Hoboken today.

HOBOKEN - The outcome of Peter Cammarano versus Dawn Zimmer could hinge on absentee ballots - there are 775 of them - or it could be the weather - the latest reports say a 6 p.m. deluge.

If Cammarano has cornered old Hoboken - an unfortunate term, admittedly, but useful in identifying a voting bloc here - then late rain pouring with two hours until the polls close could hit Zimmer harder than Cammarano.

The at-large councilman claims a chunk of those votes, to be sure, but Zimmer has sought with a pure reform slogan to be the champion of transient Manhattan workadays looking to build a home in the mile square city.

In any event, Zimmer works hard in the closing moments of her runoff with Cammarano.

Hoboken City Hall

The Dawn Zimmer campaign has framed the game as staus quo versus change while Peter Cammarano's camp has basically taken a "just watch the debates" tack, arguing the edge in terms of qualifications and competence.

Tomorrow the forces of the 4th Ward councilwoman and the at-large councilman will clash to determine who will succeed embattled Mayor Dave Roberts, who saddled Hoboken with a 47% tax increase and in the process gave attorney Cammarano his campaign slogan as the only candidate in the race who opposed the state takeover that led to the hike.

As the last reformer standing in this race who two years ago ran in outright opposition to the Roberts era, photographer Zimmer in this special runoff election tomorrow competes with the backing of 2nd Ward Councilwoman Beth Mason.

Zimmer is the only mayoral candidate running at the head of the same council slate with which she started the race: Dave Mello, Carol Marsh and Ravi Bhalla.