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| Provisional and mail-in ballots provided the margin of victory in last Tuesday's election to fill 3 three-year seats on the Hackensack Board of Education. |
By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR
HACKENSACK -- In elections big and small, every vote counts.
That is the valuable lesson in last Tuesday's Board of Education election in Hackensack, where 17 provisional and 32 mail-in ballots allowed Ira G. Goodman to pull ahead of Vice President Timothy Hoffman.
That gave a clean sweep to the Hackensack Smart Schools team led by board President Lara Rodriguez.
Besides Goodman, Michael Scott James-Vickery also was elected to a 3-year term on the 9-member board.
New tally
The new tally provided by the Bergen County Board of Elections on Monday gave Goodman 892 votes and Hoffman 887.
The margin of victory was only 5 votes.
My wife and I mailed in 2 ballots for the entire Smart Schools team, helping defeat Hoffman, who had favored a grandiose $170 million school construction and renovation plan that was shot down by voters in January.
Rodriguez and Scott-Vickery placed first and second in the election, edging out Hoffman's team of Yvette Washington-Irving and Basim Ahmad.
Last Wednesday, the Hackensack City Clerk said Hoffman led Goodman, 867-856 (an 11-vote margin), but that was before provisional and mail-in ballots were counted.
Apathy still reigns
As usual, the turnout for the school election was pathetic, even though nearly half of every property tax bill goes to support the city's schools, and voters could accept or reject the proposed $84.5 million tax levy.
Only 8.53% of the 22,447 registered voters or 1,915 people cast ballots, according to the Board of Elections (that includes provisional and mail-in votes).
Voters approved the annual school budget by a vote of 800 to 718, but the Board of Elections noted that voters who mailed in their ballots said no, 172-155.
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| Board of Education President Lara Rodriguez led her Hackensack Smart Schools team to a clean sweep in last Tuesday's election. |
