In Bayonne, two council candidates tied for runoff slot

There are about 60 provisional ballots still in play in Bayonne’s Ward 2, where two candidates are tied for second place and a shot at a runoff berth in June.

The top vote-getter is Melissa Godesky-Rodriguez, who received 1,326 votes (42%).  She needed 1,577 to win the seat outright in Tuesday’s non-partisan municipal election.

Salvatore Gullace and Omar Elgarhi each have 820 votes.  Gullace, a former councilman, ran with mayoral candidate Loyad Booker.

The incumbent Ward 2 councilwoman, Jacqueline Weimmer, did not seek re-election.

Godesky-Rodriguez, a school board member, ran on a ticket headed by Mayor-elect Sharon Ashe Nadrowski.

Not all 60 provisional ballots will necessarily be counted; the Hudson County Board of Elections must determine whether they were cast by registered voters or by those who have already voted by mail.

In Ward 3, four-term Council President Gary La Pelusa finished second in a four-candidate race, running 362 votes behind Tommy Gillen, who ran with Ashe Nadrowski, 47%-37%; Gillen was 107 votes short of the 50% mark, and La Pelusa yesterday said he would not compete in the runoff.

But that doesn’t mean Gillen is home free.

After Steve Fulop was elected mayor of Jersey City in 2013, three city council candidates who ran with incumbent Jeramiah Healy dropped out after qualifying for the runoff: Peter Brennan and Omar Perez for two at-large seats, and Gerald Meyers for the Ward B council seat.

Superior Court Judge Peter Bariso allowed Sean Connelly, who finished seventh in the race for three at-large seats with less than 5% of the vote, to compete in the runoff; the candidate who came in eighth, Ray Relagdo, opted not to continue his candidacy.  Bariso also allowed Esther Wintner to replace Meyers in the runoff; Chico Ramchal led Meyer, 38%-34%, and Wintner finished third with 16%.

Fulop’s candidates easily swept the runoff anyway.

In Ward F, Jermaine Robinson declined to compete in a runoff against Councilwoman Diane Coleman after coming within 56 votes of being the top vote-getter.  The candidates who finished third, fourth, and fifth also declined, so Coleman’s name appeared on the runoff ballot without an opponent.