Fil-Am wins in Jersey City council elections

A Filipino-American community leader has officially secured a spot in the Jersey City Council in New Jersey, the county clerk’s office showed Monday (US time). Citing the official tally posted at the Hudson County Clerk Office, news site The Jersey Journal said Ronald Lavarro, a Filipino university official, came in second place with 3,558 votes. Meanwhile, Ward F Councilwoman Viola Richardson topped the council elections with more than 4,100 votes. Even as he was "overjoyed" with the news, Lavarro admitted to The Jersey Journal that he had reservations about the results until it was declared final. The certification for last week’s election was delayed because county officials "sought a court order to open two voting machines whose cartridges had never been returned," the report said. County Clerk Barbara Netchert said the cartridges had no votes recorded on them because they turned out to be in extra machines. The son of two Filipino doctors who migrated to the United States in the 1960s, Lavarro will be the first Asian-American to sit in the council of Jersey City, which has nearly 60, 000 Asian-American residents. Carrying a degree in Science from the New York University's Leonard Stern School of Business, he now serves as the assistant director for the Office of Grants and Sponsored Programs at New Jersey City University. Beating 15 other candidates, Richardson and Lavarro will replace former council members Mariano Vega and Willie Flood as two of the council’s three at-large representatives, The Jersey Journal said. — RSJ, GMA News