A major challenge to the election results last November on rent control appears to be over.
Reliable sources in the case indicate the controversial court action seeking to overturn the slim 122 vote victory on the rent control ballot question will be withdrawn Tuesday in Jersey City Superior Court after the holiday weekend.
The election challenge posed central issues concerning the use of Vote by Mail ballots in Hoboken. The Mile Square Taxpayers Association (MSTA) brought the case to court seeking to have enough of the suspicious ballots thrown out by the Hudson County Board of Elections reintroduced into the vote totals.
The Hoboken Fair Housing Association (HFHA), a rent control advocacy opposed the action successfully intervening in the case.
The court ordered direct testimony would be required by Vote by Mail voters desiring their ballots reintroduced for consideration into the case.
The end of the case also means a subpoena for the Beth Mason connected political firm Bluewater Operations will not see the firm take the stand and testify under oath for its part in the election. The firm which passed through over $50,000 in street money for Councilwoman Beth Mason’s 2011 council election and headed her campaign also received over $20,000 from Frank “Pupie” Raia’s political committee, “Let the People Decide.”
=&0=&: Da Horsey spent more than a day testifying on the case specifically on the problematic areas of Hoboken’s Vote by Mail usage in recent elections.
More next week on the breaking story. MSV was first to cover the story late January. (below)
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The election challenge to the rent control ballot question may be hitting the fan with key testimony at the
Brennan Court House in Jersey City revolving around the controversial collection of Vote by Mail ballots in the last election.
A foot soldier connected to those organized efforts gathering the paper ballots, mostly in the back end of town in the Hoboken Housing Authority testified on the stand today.
Dio Braxton, a long time campaign worker in various Hoboken campaigns reportedly admitted he acted in the employ of Frank “Pupie” Raia.
Answering questions on his “bearing” of votes in numerous past Hoboken elections and for the Timmy Occhipinti for mayor campaign last November, the campaign worker admitted to numerous inconsistencies.
Cross examination underscored numerous voting problems in Braxton’s handling of approximately 80 Vote by Mail ballots.
It’s an open question now whether those voters who saw their ballots borne by Dio Braxton may need to come to court and testify themselves.
There’s dual importance in the case with both the Vote by Mail factory and the election results on rent control weighing in the balance.
The razor thin margin of 122 votes the difference between winning and losing in a contest where more than 10,000 Hoboken residents cast their votes.
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| The war to reinsert enough questionable Vote by Mail ballots thrown out by the Hudson County Board of Elections is the subject of court hearings at the Brennan Court House in Jersey City. The look inside the underbelly of the Hoboken Vote by Mail factory is featured in the contest between MSTA and the HFHA on rent control. |
=&0=&: The hearings are continuing in Jersey City this week. Will the media be covering this?
