Following an arduous tally of absentee ballots, Mohammed Akhtaruzzaman appears to have again won the Paterson Ward 2 contest, this time by 36 votes, according to the Passaic County Clerk’s Office.
Sonia Torres, wife of former Mayor Jose “Joey” Torres, won two weeks ago on Election Night on a machine vote taly in what boiled down to a three-way contest among herself, Akhtaruzzaman and former Councilman Aslon Goow.
Akhtaruzzaman ousted the incumbent Goow in a May contest, but the councilman successfully challenged the result in state Superior Court. So they did it again, ultimately apparently with the same result after a two weeks-long consideration of emailed and faxed ballots.
Hurricane Sandy significantly impacted the process.
John Currie of the Passaic County Division of Elections said the office considered 1,677 ballots from residents in other New Jersey counties.
