The results for the 2014 Primary Election are in with no surprises as all candidates for November ran unopposed in their respective political parties.
In major cities, primaries have multiple candidates from the same party running for the same office and a primary eliminates all but one to become the respective political party’s candidate. In Roselle Park, uncontested primaries are commonplace.
The candidates for the First Ward are Eugene Meola (D) and Patricia Jordan (R).
The candidates for Council-At-Large are Charlene Storey (D) and Richard G. Templeton III (R).
The candidates for Mayor are Carl Hokanson (D) and Michael Yakubov (R).
There were no independent candidates who submitted their petitions by today’s deadline of 4 p.m. according to the Union County Clerk’s Office.
Current Mayor Joseph Accardi, who reportedly had initially petitioned to run for a second term as mayor but did not receive Republican Committee support and has publicly stated he will not run again, received three (3) write-in votes.
The vote tallies for all candidates are listed below:
| Candidate (Democrat) | Votes |
|
|---|---|---|
| Carl Hokanson | 245 |
|
| Charlene Storey | 232 |
|
| Eugene Meola | 58 |
| Candidate (Republican) | Votes |
|
|---|---|---|
| Michael Yakubov | 189 |
|
| Richard G. Templeton III | 172 |
|
| Patricia Jordan | 33 |
It is to be noted that these results are not indicative of what is to be expected in the November General Election since votes for the Primary Candidates were solely isolated to their own party. In other words, people did not have a choice between, as an example, Carl Hokanson or Michael Yakubov. Depending on what party they declared themselves as, this was solely a vote to pick a candidate from each political party to then face the opposing party candidate in the November election.
This year, the General Election will be held on November 4th.