Special Elections for City Council Seats

If you live in the 40th District, an area that covers parts of Crown Heights, Flatbush and East Flatbush, you can vote in tomorrow special election to the seat that used to belong to former City Councilwoman - now Congresswoman - Yvette Clarke. And there's another special election for a City Council seat in Staten Island as well, so South Shore voters, head to the polls.

Clarke has given her support to Mathie Eugene, who would be the first Haitian-American City Council member, but there are still 9 other candidates. The AP notes that the candidates in the Brooklyn election represent a variety of backgrounds, including a former U.N. ambassador (Joel Toney) and a Pakistani candidate (Mohammed Razvi).

Gotham Gazette's blog, The Wonkster, has a good roundup of the endorsements the different candidates have received. Jesse Hamilton was endorsed by the NY Times, Eugene was endorsed by Local 1199, and the Citizens Union endorsed two candidates - Zenobia McNally and Wellington Sharpe.

And in the Staten Island race to fill Andrew Lanza's Council seat, it's Vincent Ignizio vs. Manny Innamorato. Ignizio has an endorsement from Mayor Bloomberg and Innamorato has Senator Schumer's approval.

Here's more information about the special elections from the city's Board of Elections.