Recount Possible – Peter Cammarano Declared Winner

By Brandy Bailey, Contributor ElectWomen Magazine

Election officials in Hoboken, New Jersey are still working to determine the winner in the run-off for mayor, but if Dawn Zimmer’s 244 machine vote lead holds she will be the first woman to win election as mayor in the town’s 168-year history.  As of this writing officials are counting is still in process–79 absentee ballots that were found left under a table and 122 provisional ballots will be counted. 

Zimmer is currently a city councilmember for the city’s fourth ward.  Her opponent in the run-off is At-Large Councilman Peter Cammarano.

In the election held on May 12^th six candidates initially ran.  Zimmer received 36% of the vote while Cammarano received 34%, 50% was needed to avoid a run-off.

Fighting for her community

Zimmer first became involved in civic life when she fought to bring a park with ball fields to her neighborhood.  She later became a member of the Southwest Parks Coalition and fought to stop a developer friendly redevelopment plan that would have added 1,200 high-rise condo units to Southwest Hoboken.  Zimmer worked to support a different redevelopment plan that included smaller buildings, more park space, traffic controls, restaurants, and shops.

It was this drive to make life better in her own neighborhood and city that propelled Zimmer to run for city council in the 4^th ward against the incumbent who was a machine politician and strong supporter of the big developers’ plan.  When Zimmer defeated the incumbent it was an upset that shook the entire establishment.

As a member of council, Zimmer has lead the fight for a more effective and less costly solution to the flooding problem.  She has presented the city with an alternative integrated solution, which she will work to implement as Mayor. 

Prior to taking time off to care for her two young children Zimmer worked in communications for a large Japanese trading company and did crisis communications for one of the top public relations firms in the U.S.

For more information on Dawn Zimmer please visit:  http://www.zimmerforchange.com.

***Update

After the remaining absentee ballots and provisional ballots were counted Friday morning Peter Cammarano was declared the winner in the Hoboken mayoral election.  His opponent Dawn Zimmer has two weeks to decide if she wants a recount.

Zimmer won the machine count in Tuesday’s runoff election by 265 votes. 

The unofficial vote totals show Cammarano winning with 6,188 votes. While city councilwoman Dawn Zimmer received 6,027 votes.

Zimmer has not yet conceded the race and has given no indication whether she will seek a recount.