Election Official Estimates Five Percent Voter Turnout So Far

A visit to the Lake Hiawatha Elementary School gym finds a serene setting, which isn't good news on Election Day.

Just after 11 a.m., election judge Walter Rusnak says turnout has been very low.

"We estimate about five percent of registered voters have come in," he said. "I can't predict how the rest of the day will go."

Rusnak said it isn't the unforgiving heat that is keeping voters away from the polling place.

"There isn't much in the way of contests," he explained. "On the Democratic side, there is only one race, really."

That race would be for Town Council, where Annelise Catanzaro, Janice McCarthy and Tom Wyka of the Vote for Parsippany ticket face only one challenger, Rainbow Lakes Democrat Robert Hofacker.

Rusnak pointed out that there is a little more action to be had on the Republican side.

Incumbent Margaret Nordstrom faces off against challenger William "Hank" Lyon for a seat on the Morris County Board of Freeholders, and the Team Parsippany ticket featuring incumbents John Fox, Michael dePierro and Brian Stanton is pitted against challengers Paul Carifi Jr. and Roy Messmer.

Another GOP race will fill the two-year council seat once held by Freeholder Ann Grossi. Fighting that battle are former Board of Education member Bob Crawford and Vincent Ferrara, who was appointed to the seat after Grossi left the council to serve in Morris County.

"This area is mostly Republican anyway, so if there is any pickup in the turnout, it'll be on that side," Rusnak said.

One issue in this year's race has been about the lopsided hold that some say the Republican Party has on Parsippany's government. 

It is true that there are more GOP members than Democrats in the township. Out of a total 30,598 registered voters in Parsippany, there are 10,182 Republicans (33 percent of those registered) versus 7,013 Democrats (23 percent), according to the Morris County Superintendent of Elections' office, a difference of about 3,000 voters.

Still, there are 13,403 voters, nearly half of those registered, who are not affiliated with either party. In a primary election, voters must pick a party in order to vote, but unaffiliated voters may do so directly at the polls when they arrive to cast a ballot.

Of course, that will come into play more tangibly in the November 2 general election. For today's primary, voters will elect party nominees who will compete in the fall polling.

The polls remain open until 8 p.m., so there is plenty  of time for Parsippany residents of all parties to participate in the democratic process.

Stick with Patch for continued election coverage throughout the day and night.