Early Voting for the first four days has been light to expected. Cumulative Figures are,
June 12, Day 1 - Bronx - 2,247 - Citywide - 16,867
June 13, Day 2 - Bronx - 3,919 - Citywide - 32,032
June 14, Day 3 - Bronx - 5,175 - Citywide - 43,720
June 15, Day 4 - Bronx - 7,591 - Citywide - 64,288
One problem that was not expected this election was that there is a race for two Judge seats in the west Bronx with five candidates, but Rank Choice Voting is not used, so a few voters are asking "How do I rank the Judge candidates"? They are being told that you have to pick only two of the five, there is no Rank Choice Voting for Judges.
Rank Choice Voting was to be more friendlier races where candidates would be talking to each other to team up to be the other candidates number two selection or part of a slate of candidates one through five, even though there can only be one winner. The opposite seems to be happening as the candidates for mayor have pulled out almost every trick in the book to go after their opponents. Cory Johnson was the first casualty of the mayor's race, dropping out even before the petition process. Johnson after some time recovering from depression decided that he wanted to be the City Comptroller. While there are not as many jobs as Mayor, there are many more than he had as City Council Speaker.
As of Day four there is no clear candidate in the lead, as depending upon which poll you look at it may as well be a dead heat between Eric Adams and Kathryn Garcia, with Maya Wiley right within the margin of error. The luster of Andrew Yang has worn off as he continues to dodge questions unless they are from friendly reporters. Yang dodged his third question from me at the One Bronx Pride event Saturday where he and Bronx Borough President candidate VanessaGibson appeared together.
Mayoral candidate Eric Adams has been hit with residency claims that he lives in New Jersey, and he even brought reporters to his Brooklyn home. Speaking of homes, candidate Maya Wiley was hit for having private security at her $2.7 Million Dollar Brooklyn home, when in reality it is a neighborhood patrol. Candidate Garcia was hit for the difference in pay scale of women, black, and Latino workers when compared to their white counterparts. However Garcia did not negotiate any union contracts, that was the mayor who was in charge of that, not commissioners. It looks like we won't know the next mayor, (correction) Democratic candidate for mayor until after the fourth of July, as well as the Republican candidate for mayor, since there is a Republican Primary for Mayor also.
One last comment about the new friendlier Rank Choice Voting system. Why was it that 15th City Council candidates Oswald Feliz's and Ischia Bravo's people came to blows outside of Monroe College in front of 14th City Council candidate Pierina Sanchez's campaign office? Oswald, what are you going to do when the votes are all counted, and your term in office ends December 31, 2021? One more column to come before Primary Day Tuesday June 22nd.
No comments:
Post a Comment