The city at the center of the South Jersey Congressional District where the political action is looks to the final week here to drive numbers that to this point look underwhelming, especially when considering the perceived closeness of a battleground congressional contest.

There’s a GOTV push on now late, and as part of that Mayor Marty Small – himself on the ballot – sees an opportunity.

“I’m extremely involved in getting out the vote,” said Small,  who noted that 52% of registered voters participated in the Democratic Primary.

“We’re looking to do much better than that,” the mayor added.

They have some ground to cover.

Atlantic County to date has received a reported 7,834 votes from Atlantic City.

There are 23,082 registered voters in the city.

Small said he’s not worried.

No one’s panicking or freaking out.

But it’s a challenging election year, he admitted.

“People are still confused by the vote-by-mail [VBM] process,” he said. “But we got a week to go.”

He expects a late rush by those voters acclimated to getting in their votes on Election Day.

“What’s going on in America is Trump’s failed leadership in the pandemic, and that affects everyone and that will motivate Atlantic City voters,” said Small. “Also you have the referendum question on the ballot and there are voters here who are eager to vote in favor of the legalization of marijuana.”