HIGHLAND PARK, January 12, 2023 – The Highland Park Democratic Municipal Committee (HPDMC), after a Zoom meeting yesterday, has nominated Elsie Foster, Matthew Hersh, and Philip George as the residents whose names it is forwarding the Highland Park Borough Council to fill the vacancy in the office of Mayor.

Long-time Democratic mayor Gayle Brill Mittler, whose service was universally praised in the committee’s special meeting, resigned effective December 31. By law, the next step in the vacancy process after an incumbent’s resignation is for the party municipal committee to nominate three individuals to serve out the remaining term of Mayor.

The final choice will be made by the Borough Council, who may select one of the individuals nominated to serve until the term expires at the end of the year.

Following a unanimous overhaul of its bylaws two years ago, the HPDMC used a method of ranked choice voting to select nominees for the first time in tonight’s meeting. The method of voting, Ranked-Enhanced Single Transferable Vote, was administered by an online election vendor. Unlike prior votes that have required multiple ballots, the Committee members, after hearing from the candidates and deliberating, received ballots links by email and ranked their preferred candidates in numerical order. The vendor’s voting system, supervised by HPDMC election tellers, quickly and efficiently determined the top three choices whose names were sent to the Council.

HPDMC Chair Diane Reh said that the HPDMC chose this method of voting not just to comply with its bylaws, but also with the requirements of the Help America Vote Act that ensure voters with disabilities have the right to cast a ballot anonymously, privately, and independently – not just on Election Day, but in the all-important political party votes that represent a key role in filling vacancies. Reh thanked Catherine Ambos and Flavio Komuves for organizing the ranked choice voting for HPMDC.

Reh added that the HPDMC, seeing the benefits of this modern method of elections, will continue to use ranked choice voting for contested elections, including the pre-primary screening process, filling vacancies in municipal office, and filling vacancies in the municipal committee.

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