'Kids First' Setback Does Not Switch Power On School Board

Although the Kids First slate lost , the slate will maintain its majority on the nine-member school board. The result also comes as a defeat for Mayor Dawn Zimmer, who endorsed Kids First.

Candidates lost to the Independents for Education candidates: Carmelo Garcia, Frances Rhodes Kearns and Peter Biancamano.

"This doesn't stop me from volunteering," said Mitchell after Wednesday's loss. 

When asked if she expected the outcome, Mitchell said that "when I saw the vote-by-mail come in with huge numbers, I tempered my enthusiasm."

For the second election in a row, the mayor's opponents—generally lead by council president Beth Mason and Councilman Michael Russo—piled up a huge lead from vote-by-mail ballots filed before the polls opened Wednesday morning.

Hudson County Board of Elections Clerk Michael Harper said on Wednesday that close to 600 vote-by-mail ballots were returned to him. Compared to other towns, this was a high number, he said. 

While the number of vote-by-mail ballots was high, the turnout during the day was relatively low, according to poll workers in several wards.

"We anticipated a higher turnout," said Godfrey, at a Kids First gathering at the Turtle Club on Wednesday night.

Kids First got the majority of the votes in the Fifth and Sixth Wards. In the First, Second, Third and Fourth Wards, Independents for Education won.

Most voters came out in the Third Ward, where 707 people cast their vote on Wednesday. The number was lowest in the Sixth Ward, where 415 people voted on the machines.

"I'm most happy we were victorious on the machines," said Frances Rhodes Kearns, who was re-elected for a third term on Wednesday.

According to poll worker Alice Crozier in the First Ward, Wednesday’s turnout marked “an all time low, even for school board.”

During the, Kids First swept the election, securing the slate's majority on the school board.

Incumbent Garcia, who received a total of 2,287 votes, said he was happy and "grateful" with the victory. He said he'd go to work right away, and that he had scheduled a meeting with Superintendent Dr. Mark Toback on Thursday morning.

"We're shooting for a 100 percent graduation rate," Garcia said, as he celebrated the victory at Room84 on Wednesday night.