Election is over but not done

City Councilmember Robert Zwolak had plenty to smile about on election day.

City Councilmember Robert Zwolak had plenty to smile about on election day.

 
By Charles Sercombe
In elections, the power and position of incumbent candidates is hard to beat.
Last week’s Primary Election results proved that adage once again, with Councilmembers Anam Miah, Robert Zwolak and Abu Musa finishing on top in that order.
They will face three challengers in the November election: Susan Dunn, Saad Almasmari and Cathie Gordon.
Although it helps to be a sitting councilmember, there are no guarantees come November. For one thing, this is a tight race. There was only a 93-vote difference between top-finisher Miah and sixth-place finisher Gordon.
And there are only 22 votes between fourth-place finisher Dunn and third place finisher Musa.
That means any of the candidates can slide up or down in November’s election. The November election will be unpredictable in another way: the only thing on that ballot will be this council election. That means voter-turnout could be extremely low – especially if it’s a cold day.
In the other election result from last Tuesday, heads are still spinning over the public school millage renewal.
Talk about doing a 180. Last February, voters here rejected the renewal by 144 votes, with 528 voters opposing the millage and 384 approving it.
Supporters of the millage blamed a last-minute anonymous flyer that falsely promised voters they would enjoy a $500 per year break on property taxes if they turned it down.
That dirty trick worked, but it also energized millage supporters to double-down on their effort.
More campaign volunteers were recruited for the Primary Election, and they went house-to-house to sell the millage. Fundraisers were also held, T-shirts were made, phone banks were set up and voters were urged to vote early via absentee ballots.
On election day supporters of the millage were mostly confident, but there was also a sense that, hey, anything could happen.
Well, their hard work and sweat paid off. The millage was overwhelmingly supported, enjoying 81 percent of the voters’ favor.
Now that was a textbook example of how to win an election.
Council candidates squaring off in the November election should take note and prepare to do battle.

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