The Jim Owles Liberal Democratic Club, named for legendary gay rights pioneer, Jim Owles, a citywide activist club with a mission to secure human rights, dignity, and freedom for all people since 2004, announced on Monday, Feb. 15, their endorsement of Jessica Haller, City Council candidate in the 11th District race, for which a special election will be held on March 23.

Jim Owles Club President, Allen Roskoff, said Haller’s passion and drive to implement progressive policies around climate change, economic recovery, and affordable housing will make her a powerful voice to help the community face the many crises that must be addressed. “Jessica will be a fearless and tireless advocate for the LGBTQ+ community, for women, and all the people of the Bronx,” he said. “We urge you to rank Jessica Haller #1 on March 23rd.”

Reacting to the announcement, Haller said she was honored to be endorsed by the club. “As an organization that also works towards justice for all, and to dismantle the machine politics that are not working for so many, I look forward to partnering with them to be a strong voice for all people of the Bronx,” she said.

As reported by Norwood News, Haller previously earned the endorsements of New York League of Conservation Voters (NYLCV), former Manhattan borough president and former City Council member, Ruth Messinger, former NY attorney general and NYC council member, Oliver Koppell, 21 in ‘21, a group that advocates for at least 21 women to hold elected office at New York City Council by 2021, as well as Vote Mama, which supports Democratic moms with young children running for office, up and down the ballot and across the country.

She has also received the backing of Open New York, a group which endorses “housing champions” running for City Council in 2021, The Jewish Climate Action Network, North Bronx Racial Justice, Bronx Climate Justice North, Women for the Win, a volunteer effort to help female progressive candidates with media assets, NO IDC NY, and is the second ranked choice candidate of The Jewish Vote.

The Independent Democratic Conference (IDC), led by former Bronx State Sen. Jeff Klein, was a group of eight New York State senators who were elected to office as Democrats but who formed a coalition with Republicans, blocking most progressive legislation in New York State for over seven years.

As reported by The New York Times, in the Sept. 13, 2018 Democratic primary, after an unprecedented grassroots campaign, six IDC senators, including Klein, were defeated by progressive challengers backed by the group, No IDC NY, including State Sen. Alessandra Biaggi in New York’s 34th senatorial district who succeeded Klein.

The Jewish Vote is a project of Tides Advocay and sister organization of Jews for Racial and Economic Justice. According to The Jewish Vote website, the group aims to “elect reformers and radicals,” and outlines how The Jewish Vote is a home for New York Jews seeking to secure a pluralistic city that works for all through the power of the Jewish vote. An extract from the website reads, “We are intellectuals, day school kids, bubbes, queers, geeks, resistance moms, carpenters, bartenders, lawyers, nurses, farmers  — deeply rooted cosmopolitans and proud members of the diaspora.”

Candidates were required to gather a minimum number of signatures from local residents in order to qualify for the ballot in the special election. As reported by the Norwood News, that minimum had been 450 signatures until Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced on Jan. 7 that he was reducing it to 315.

Some candidates had raised concerns during prior weeks about the impact of the signature collection process on people’s health, and had called for for the minimum signature requirement to be waived amid fears of exacerbating the spread of the coronavirus through mass person-to-person contact. Haller and fellow female candidate, Mino Lora, both announced at separate stages that they had each previously contracted the virus.

Meanwhile, social worker and adjunct Columbia professor, Abigail Martin, and male district leader in the 80th Assembly District, Marcos Sierra, announced last month that they had dropped out of the March special election, citing health related risks linked to the coronavirus, but said they still plan to participate in the June primary.

A Board of Elections public hearing was held on Feb. 4 to assess which candidates had collated the minimum number of signatures needed to proceed. Besides Haller, according to the New York City Board of Elections and Ballotopedia, there are five other candidates in the District 11 special election race.

These are retired NYPD detective, Carlton Berkley, Eric Dinowitz, a teacher and Democratic district leader for the 81st Assembly District, Mino Lora, founder and executive director of the People’s Theatre Project, lawyer and Bronx CB 8 Traffic and Transportation Committee Chair, Dan Padernacht, and freelance filmmaker, Kevin Pazmino, who is the most recent candidate to join the race. Dionel Then dropped out of the race last August, endorsing Padernacht, as he did so.

In terms of the latest campaign contribution filings (excluding refunds) in the special election race, according to the New York City CFB, Haller leads in contributions with $77,821, followed by Dinowitz with $65,156, Padernacht with $39,986, Lora with $32,667, and Berkley with $7,705. For the District 11 special election, the most recent disclosure period ran from “Beginning of Fundraising” to Jan. 11, 2021. There was no information available for Kevin Pazmino on campaign contribution filings with the CFB. We understand Pazmino announced his candidacy on Jan. 18.

The nonpartisan special election in District 11 was called by the mayor on Jan. 4 to find a replacement for former District 11 City Councilman, Andrew Cohen, who was elected as a judge to the Bronx Supreme Court in November and resigned from his City Council seat on Dec. 31. It is the one of the first two elections in the Bronx which will incorporate the new method of Ranked Choice Voting (RCV), the other being District 15.

RCV is a voting method whereby voters can rank up to five candidates in order of preference, instead of choosing just one. If a candidate receives more than 50 percent of first-choice votes, that candidate is the winner. If no candidate earns more than 50 percent of first-choice votes, then counting will continue in rounds. At the end of each round, the candidate with the fewest votes will be eliminated.

If a voter ranked the eliminated candidate first, then the next highest ranked candidate on the voter’s ballot will be taken into account in the next round of counting. The process continues as such until there are two candidates left. The candidate with the most votes wins. For official information on ranked choice voting, go to the NYC Campaign Finance Board FAQ page or the New York City Board of Elections website.

The Bronx Democratic Party also recently hosted an informational session on Ranked Choice Voting which can be viewed here in conjunction with the group, Rank the Vote NYC. Norwood News checked with the City’s Campaign Finance Board about the expertise of Rank the Vote NYC and were advised that the group is a reputable source on the topic and is a voter education campaign that is run by Common Cause NY.

BronxNet aired the first of a series of debates between the District 11 City Council candidates on Feb. 2, and that debate can be viewed online here. The Norwood News later provided a brief recap of the debate.

Northwest Bronx Indivisible and Riverdale Yonkers Society for Ethical Culture hosted a further virtual debate among the candidates on Sunday, Feb. 7, at 3 p.m. This debate can be viewed here.

Another debate was hosted by the Northwest Bronx Community & Clergy Coalition in conjunction with LAAL, a nonprofit supporting Bengali women in the Norwood section of the Bronx on Wednesday, Feb. 10. That debate can be viewed here. A further debate hosted by City Limits was held on Sunday, Feb. 14. That debate can be viewed here.

A Woodlawn Candidate’s Forum will be held on Monday, Feb. 15, at 6 p.m. More details can be found here.

A City Council Town Hall, presented by the SAR High School EPG Club, based in Riverdale in the Northwest Bronx, will be held on Wednesday, Feb. 17 and can be viewed here.

Riverdale Nature Preservancy will also be hosting a virtual conversation with the District 11 special election candidates on Thursday, March 4 at 8 p.m. The Zoom link to join the conversation is as follows: https://tinyurl.com/RNPForum, and the Meeting ID is 852 4927 7543.

The Bronx Board of Elections confirmed that it is now accepting applications for absentee ballots from voters in District 11 (and in District 15) who wish to vote by mail. Further information can be found here or by calling the Bronx Board of Elections at (718) 299-9017 and selecting Ext. 1875. Polls are open on election day from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m. The Early Voting Period is from March 13, 2021 to March 21, 2021. Voters must vote at their assigned early voting site.

Early Voting Hours

The district includes Kingsbridge, Norwood, Van Cortlandt Village, Wakefield, Riverdale, Woodlawn Heights and part of Bedford Park. Whoever wins the March 23 special, nonpartisan election will serve until Dec. 31, 2021. Future representation in the District beyond that point will likely be determined via a June 2021 primary and a November 2021 general election.

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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.