2 weeks Ago
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. — South Shore City Council district voters will head to the polls Monday for early voting in the special election to decide their next councilmember.
Former Republican Councilmember Joseph Borelli left office in February triggering the special election , with Cliff Hagen, 58, Frank Morano, 40, and Griffin Fossella, 27, qualifying for the contest that will be decided April 29. Polling sites, which can be found on the Board of Elections website , will be open Monday and Tuesday from 12 p.m.
to 8 p.m.; on Wednesday through Friday from 8 a.
m. to 6 p.m.
; and on Saturday and Sunday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.
m. Election Day, Tuesday, April 29, will see poll sites opened from 6 a.m.
to 9 p.m. Voters should always double check where their polling site is, but the city Board of Elections provided lists of all early voting and Election Day polling sites, which can be found here: Early voting sites Election Day sites From left, Clifford Hagen, Frank Morano and Griffin Fossella appear in a composite photo.
All three are set to appear in the April 29, 2025 special election for the South Shore City Council seat. (Advance file photos) What else to know Voters will decide the race on a ranked-choice, non-partisan basis, meaning they’ll rank the three candidates and any possible write-ins in order of preference, with no candidate appearing on traditional party lines. Morano will be running on the “SI Patriotism” line, Fossella will appear on the “We the People” line and Hagen will be on the “Common Ground” line.
The winner of the April 29 contest will serve out the remainder of Borelli’s term through the end of the year, but will need to win the June primary and November general elections to remain in office into 2026. Morano and Fossella, who is the son of Borough President Vito Fossella, have confirmed they plan to participate in the June Republican primary. Hagen has said he will be a candidate in the Democratic primary.
While traditional party lines will not appear in the special election, partisanship and political realities will undoubtedly play a part. The South Shore City Council seat is the city’s most conservative, being held only by Republicans since its establishment in the 1990s, including the elder Fossella. Voters on the South Shore will likely be familiar with special elections, as their two most recent representatives in the City Council took office that way.
Borelli succeeded his predecessor — Vincent Ignizio, current deputy executive director of the New York City Board of Elections — after he left for a job at Catholic Charities of Staten Island in 2015. Ignizio took office in 2007 after his Council predecessor, Republican State Sen. Andrew Lanza, left for the State Senate.
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