How Summit Voted: Common Council, President, Marijuana

SUMMIT, NJ — The Union County Clerk posted Tuesday that after revealing a small percentage of local election results Tuesday night, more numbers may not be released until Saturday, with certification to come on Nov. 20. This includes the Summit Common Council race (see preliminary numbers below).

But some races in the area have been decided.

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Rep. Tom Malinowski beat Tom Kean, Jr. for 7th District Congress on Tuesday with approximately 55 percent of the vote. The victory came after a race in which Malinowski was subject to heated — and, some said, false — attacks.

As for the Summit Common Council race, as of 10 p.m. on Election Day — with only 25 percent of districts tabulated — incumbent Democrat Susan Hairston was leading her Republican challenger for the 1st Ward Common Council seat. Hariston had two thirds of the vote, or 2,223 vs. 1,285 votes, according to the Union County clerk's office. There was one write-in vote so far.

That race was the only contested race at the local level in Summit. In the uncontested race for a 2nd Ward council seat, incumbent council president Marjorie Fox, a Democrat, had 2,798 votes. There were 39 write-ins.

A county official said Tuesday that the numbers were unofficial results for machine and vote-by-mail ballots. Watch Patch for updates.

How Union County voted: President and marijuana

In Union County, with only 15 percent of districts reporting, 72 percent of the vote for president, or 88,984 votes, went to former Vice President Joe Biden. Another 32,422 votes went to Pres. Donald Trump. Libertarian Jo Jorgensen drew 480 votes, and other third-party and write-in candidates amassed around 1,000 votes total.

For the vote to legalize marijuana usage, about 68 percent of Union County voters were in favor. The totals were 72,370 to 33,467.

For more on the New Jersey totals and public questions, click here.

For prior coverage of the 2020 election in New Jersey, go here: New Jersey Elections 2020

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