Photo courtesy of the Dinowitz campaign.
This article was updated as the count progressed.
After the first count of all first choice ranked votes was concluded in the District 11 City Council special election race by the New York City Board of Elections (BOE) on Sunday, April 11, Eric Dinowitz maintained and increased his lead in the race with 4,401 votes. This represents 46.05 percent of all first-choice, ranked votes. To win, a candidate requires 50 percent plus one.
Following the tallying of the total first choice, ranked ballots, which includes election day ballots, early ballots, military ballots and absentee ballots, Dinowitz picked up an additional 1,461 votes on his previous total of 2,940 on election night, as reported by Norwood News. The election night total only included first choice, ranked votes of the early ballots and election day ballots, based on 97.59 percent of voting scanners reported.
Following Dinowitz, whose candidacy was previously profiled by the Norwood News, is Mino Lora, founder and executive director of the People’s Theatre Project, who now has 2,129 votes (up from 1,776 on election night), tech entrepreneur and environmentalist, Jessica Haller, with 1,383 (up from 1,049 on election night), Dan Padernacht, lawyer and Community Board 8 Traffic & Transportation chair, with 1,110 (up from 899 on election night), freelance filmmaker, Kevin Pazmino, with 194 (up from 172 on election night), and retired NYPD detective, Carlton Berkley, with 173 votes (up from 135 on election night). Exhausted votes numbered 141 and write-ins accounted for 24. The total number of first choice ranked ballots cast was 9,555.
Image courtesy of the New York City Board of Elections
Dinowitz, a teacher and Democratic male district leader for the 81st Assembly District, is the son of Assemblyman Jeffrey Dinowitz who represents much of the same district. Dinowitz Jr. was regarded by some as a frontrunner in the race, which resulted in low voter turn-out, a factor which typically favors candidates with strong name recognition.
However, Lora, who received the backing of some of the progressive wing of the Bronx Democratic Party, including State Senators Alessandra Biaggi, who represents the 34th senatorial district, and Gustavo Rivera who represents the 33rd senatorial district, had a strong showing on election night, and did not rule out her chances of winning the race.
As of Feb. 21, a total of 102,617 voters were registered to vote in District 11 in the nonpartisan special election, according to the BOE. Of this number, 13,110 were deemed inactive voters, while 89,507 were deemed active.
The last date to mail a registration form to vote in the special election was Feb. 26, while the last date to register to vote in person was March 13.
Whoever wins the seat will succeed former Councilman Andrew Cohen who was elected to the Bronx Supreme Court in November 2020 and who resigned from his City Council seat on December 31, 2020. Some have criticized the tendency by some candidates, including Cohen and Congressman Ritchie Torres, who previously represented the 15th City Council district, to run for higher or alternative office before finishing their last terms at City Council, particularly in light of the ongoing pandemic.
The Northwest Bronx which incorporates parts of both District 11 and District 15 has been one of the worst affected parts of the City in terms of coronavirus rates.
None of the special election candidates released a statement following the first round count results on April 11. Dinowitz’s statement on election night, March 23, when he secured 42 percent of the vote, read, “We feel good about where we are as the early results come in, and I remind everyone that every vote must be counted.” He added, “I have worked throughout my career to expand voting access and empower voters, and it’s imperative that all voices are heard. As we saw in Queens over the last few weeks, the ranked choice process will take some time and I encourage everyone to be patient while our democracy is at work.”
Following the ranked choice vote count on Monday, April 12, Berkley, Padernacht and Pazmino have now been eliminated after 5 rounds. Eric Dinowitz now has 4,919 votes, Mino Lora has 2,403 votes and Jessica Haller now has 1,681 votes. Round 6 will continue on Tuesday, April 13.
Assemblyman for the 81st Assembly District and father of candidate, Eric, Jeffrey Dinowitz, told the Norwood News at the counting center that it is now “mathematically impossible” for another candidate to overtake his son.
Following the final count, held on Tuesday, April 13, Dinowitz won the race with 5,579 votes. Mino Lora won 3,188 votes and came in second.
The Board of Elections have, in the meantime, published the final breakdown of each round of the ranked choice voting process, as below.
Image courtesy of the New York City Board of Elections.
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Welcome to the Norwood News, a bi-weekly community newspaper that primarily serves the northwest Bronx communities of Norwood, Bedford Park, Fordham and University Heights. Through our Breaking Bronx blog, we focus on news and information for those neighborhoods, but aim to cover as much Bronx-related news as possible. Founded in 1988 by Mosholu Preservation Corporation, a not-for-profit affiliate of Montefiore Medical Center, the Norwood News began as a monthly and grew to a bi-weekly in 1994. In September 2003 the paper expanded to cover University Heights and now covers all the neighborhoods of Community District 7. The Norwood News exists to foster communication among citizens and organizations and to be a tool for neighborhood development efforts. The Norwood News runs the Bronx Youth Journalism Heard, a journalism training program for Bronx high school students. As you navigate this website, please let us know if you discover any glitches or if you have any suggestions. We’d love to hear from you. You can send e-mails to norwoodnews@norwoodnews.org or call us anytime (718) 324-4998.
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