More post election

On June 3^rd I wrote: “You have been given the privilege of determining your governance. Too many people in this world do not have that ability. Americans can lose it at any time through indifference. Do not be one who can cause a loss of freedom. Do not waste the great gift you own.”

The voter turnout in Plainfield for an election that could be decisive in determining Plainfield’s future was a disgrace.

Plainfield is a community in which there are 10 registered Democrats for each 1 (real) Republican. Anyone with even a minimal degree of common sense should understand that the real election for office in the city takes place at the Democrat primary in June; not in the general elections of November.

Never the less in the three wards where there were Council seat races only about 25% or less of those who could vote bothered to do so. That includes those taking advantage of New Jersey’s liberal absentee ballot option.

I do not believe that the results are a result of the discussing mail campaign waged by County Democrat Chairman as well as Plainfield Democrat Chairman Green but rather a tribute to a seasoned political boss’s understand of the basic principle of winning an election; “get the votes out”.

This can be accomplished by using a core that have nepotistic and or patronage bound obligations to a smart political boss who in a smaller arena is a modern day equivalent of Daily, Hague, Pendergast, etc. to not only vote themselves but to make sure that those who might not go to the polls, did so and voted for the “ticket”.  

This is a principle, get your supporters to the polls that the opposition even with better candidates never seems to learn. Instead of running a taxi service or publicized personal appearances reliance was placed on too frequent computer phone calls which tend to turn people off.

One trouble with the primary elections as now constituted is that where there are multiple candidates for an office the one who receives the nomination most often does not have a majority of votes but just a plurality which could be less than 30%. In primary races a majority be should be mandatory. A run-off election limited to the top two vote “getters” should be held 1 or 2 weeks after the original election. The vote in the 1^st ward might result in a different outcome after new election.

For those interested; Eric Jackson, director of the Department of Public Works and Urban Development in Plainfield and the former Trenton Public Works director, was the top vote-getter in the May 13 mayoral election with 3,020 votes, or 30 percent. Perez, an armed forces veteran who also worked in law enforcement, garnered 2,134 votes, or 21 percent.