Fighting for Lautenberg, Rices battle low voter turnout in the West Ward

Councilman Ron RiceNEWARK - State Sen. Ronald Rice (D-Newark) leaves Democratic Party headquarters at the Robert Treat Hotel to head back to the streets.

"I want to be out there," he says.

His son, West Ward Councilman Ron Rice, meanwhile, already is - driving from polling place to polling place in his ward and finding turnout sluggish at best.

First elected to the Newark City Council the same year Frank Lautenberg became a U.S. senator - 1982 - the elder Rice, and his son both back the re-election of U.S. Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ) over U.S. Rep. Rob Andrews.

The Rices want about 3,000-4,000 turnout for Lautenberg and the "B" line in their ward, where the number of registered Democrats totals 11,578. It’s going to be tough to hit those numbers given the morning showing, but father and son are working to produce larger turnout in the afternoon - particularly among senior voters.

"I was the 28th person to vote in my district," says the younger Rice, emerging from the Seventh Day Adventist Church on Sanford Avenue shortly before 1 p.m..

He jumps in his car and heads up Sanford, pulls over and walks into Firehouse Engine No. 26. Sixty-nine people have voted so far, indicative once again of very low turnout, and moments later in Ivy Hill, turnout is borderline anemic.

"During the presidential primary election, the gym was full," says district leader Astera Argyris.

It is the lull, after all, but for now there’s no one around.

It’s like that elsewhere, too in the norther part of the state, not just in Essex County.

"I think you’d need a search warrant to find voters at this point," says Union County Democratic Party operative Pat Politano. "I voted at 11 o’clock and I was number 9."

Mathematically, voter turnout in North Jersey - where Lautenberg is strong - would probably have to be less than 14% in order for strong turnout in South Jersey - where 22% of the state’s Democratic primary vote is concentrated - to contribute to a win for Andrews.