The Trenton Times published the following article on June 9, 2014. To read the full article, click here.
Trenton mayoral candidates Eric Jackson, Paul Perez alter strategies to combat voter fatigue
By Jenna Pizzi/The Times of Trenton
on June 09, 2014 at 8:59 PM, updated June 09, 2014 at 9:13 PMTRENTON — City residents are asked to go to the polls Tuesday for the third time in four weeks to vote, this time to choose the city’s next mayor.
Voter turnout, however, is expected to be low for the runoff election between Eric Jackson and Paul Perez, who are seeking to become the first elected mayor since Tony Mack was convicted on federal corruption charges and ousted from the post in February.
Patrick Murray, director of the Monmouth University Polling Institute, predicted that turnout will be less than in the May 13 municipal election, when 26 percent of the 38,736 registered voters cast ballots in the race that selected Perez and Jackson from among six candidates.
“Runoffs always have lower turnout than the initial election,” Murray said. “People feel they made their choice already. They feel that they did their duty.”
For that reason, political strategists for both Jackson and Perez said they are striving to create personal interactions between their candidates and the voters rather than focusing on getting the masses to their polling places.