Tie Break For City Council Seat

In the September Democratic primary, 1,763 electors voted in the Upper East Side 138th District representing a 38 percent turnout in which Joe Ganim won the district handily over Bill Finch for mayor. The turnout ran five points ahead of the citywide average. City Council candidates James Morton who ran on Finch’s line and Nessah Smith on Ganim’s line are locked in a tie. As a result they will face each other in a runoff Wednesday from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m. at Thomas Hooker School and the JFK Campus. It will be a day of crickets.

Only one thing is certain for now, Anthony Paoletto, a Ganim supporter, will represent the district, running ahead of the other City Council candidates. Morton, a member of the Democratic Town Committee, cast his vote for Ganim at the party endorsement in July but ended up on Finch’s line because he was endorsed by the district and Finch by a majority of the citywide 90-member party apparatus.

Smith was recruited to run for City Council by Maria Pereira who lives in the district and was one of three victorious school board candidates running on Ganim’s line.

How many will actually show up to vote Wednesday?

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