The one new face was Charles Mainor, a 42-year-old JCPD detective who will represent the 31st District, which covers Bayonne and part of Jersey City. He replaces L. Harvey Smith, who did not run for re-election after running for Jersey City mayor this May and then getting caught up in this summer’s federal corruption sting.

“It is an honor to have the opportunity to represent Hudson County in the General Assembly,” Mainor says in a statement. “I look forward to applying my experience in law enforcement and community advocacy to my work fighting for Bayonne and Jersey City residents in a government arena.”

Mainor is an active member of the Jersey City Chapter of the NAACP, the Absalom David Masonic Lodge #36 and the Hudson County Re-Entry Task Force, and he directs the JCPD’s “Safe Haven” program, which provides children ages 5 and older with free after-school programs and activities. In addition, he runs the department’s Anti-Gang Program and a first-time juvenile offenders program that provides mentoring for juveniles arrested for minor offenses.

“It is thrilling and humbling to be able to serve the residents of my district in another capacity to ensure our neighborhoods are safer and the needs of working and middle class families are met,” he says. “The issues that face Bayonne and Jersey City residents are the same issues that are faced by New Jerseyans across the state and I hope to forge a consensus with my legislative colleagues to bring about progress for New Jersey families, communities and businesses.”

The one statewide ballot question — a $400 million bond issue to preserve open space — narrowly passed.

- Locally, all six Democratic Assembly candidates cruised to victory last night, helping Democrats hold onto control of the Assembly statewide.

- Hudson Dems react to Corzine’s loss.

In other local news:

- Jersey City’s Trashed Clothing gets props for “Best Trend in Crafts and Jewelry” for its Golden Girls-themed work in the Village Voice’s 2009 Best Of NYC issue.

Today’s Best Bets:

- The documentary American Casino has been heralded as the best portrait of the American financial collapse to come out thus far. There’s a free screening of the film tonight at 7 pm at St. Peter’s College.

In other statewide news:

- As mainstream newspapers continue to struggle and editorial staffers are laid off, Politico notes that one prominent Star-Ledger investigative reporter landed on his feet as Corzine’s main opposition research director.

- Does New Jersey fail to promote non-Shore tourism? Star-Ledger columnist Mark DiIonno makes a compelling case.

No big surprise here, but the numbers that are in so far clearly show all six Democratic party candidates winning election to the state Assembly tonight.

In the 31st District, with 98.2 percent of precincts reporting, Anthony Chiappone (the incumbent) and Charles Mainor (running in place of incumbent L. Harvey Smith) have won with 35.8 and 36.3 percent of the vote, respectively.

In the 32nd, with 100 percent in, incumbents Joan Quigley and Vincent Prieto rolled with 47.7 and 48.4 percent of the vote.

And in the 33rd, incumbents (hey, sense a pattern here?) Ruben Ramos Jr. and Caridad Rodriguez took home wins with 37.5 and 36 percent of the vote (96.4 percent of precincts reporting).

With that out of the way, now we just hold tight for the gubernatorial and ballot question results.

So what happens if you wake up today and realize you never sent in the vote-by-mail ballot?

The good news is you still have options.

The most straightforward option is to hand-deliver the ballot to the Board of Elections (257 Cornelison Ave., 4th Floor) by 8 pm tonight. You can send it via messenger or drop it off yourself. If you send via messenger, that person has to print and sign his or her name and include his or her address on the outside of the envelopes in the presence of the voter — that’s you. Verification will occur at the board of elections when the messenger drops off the envelope.

Another relatively easy option is to vote at the polls. The poll workers should identify you as a vote-by-mail voter, and you have to certify to them that you haven’t already cast your mail-in ballot. You’ll then vote via provisional ballot, which will be counted after Hudson County confirms it hasn’t received your mail-in ballot.

If you have any problems voting or questions, remember, you can call the NJ ACLU and League of Women Voters’ Voter Protection Hotline at 1-800-792-VOTE (8683).

- About 250 people — including firefighters, police officers and emergency medical technicians — lined the waterfront at Exchange Place yesterday to welcome USS New York as it stopped to carry out a 21-gun salute. The ship’s voyage up the Hudson was a proud homecoming for Lt. Cmdr. Don Wilson.

- NJCU nursing professor Dr. Gloria Boseman is slated to receive a 2009 Nurse Recognition Award from the New Jersey League for Nursing, an affiliate of the National League for Nursing, at the organization’s fall gala this Friday.

- Jersey City raw food consultant Beatrice Johnston is featured in a fashion spread in the November issue of O, The Oprah Magazine. (Check out a thumbnail on Johnston’s website here.)

- Speaking of national media exposure, the NJCU men’s soccer team was featured on ESPN’s Sportscenter over the weekend during the “Top Plays” portion of the show.

Today’s Best Bets:

- There’s an opening for Ken Bastard’s show of new paintings — “The Machine” — at LITM at 7 pm, and at 9 pm you have, as so often happens on Tuesdays, two choices on 2nd Street. Rainbow Fresh is playing at Lucky 7′s, and Melissa Surach’s BabyHole is at the Lamp Post.

In statewide news:

- The New York Times reports that the state’s suburbs will play a large role in the outcome of today’s gubernatorial election, which, by the way, 5.2 million New Jerseyans are registered to vote for. One last fun bit of campaign news before the circus leaves town, and it involves a circus: Members of the Monty Python Flying Circus are considering suing Chris Christie for using scenes from a copyrighted skit in a TV and web ad without obtaining their permission.

- New Jersey has filed a federal lawsuit against the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers over its plan to deepen the Delaware River shipping channel.

- U.S. Sen. Frank Lautenberg says he successfully fought to increase federal funding by nearly $1.5 million for research into the mysterious and deadly illness facing the state’s bat population, White Nose Syndrome. The FY 2010 Interior and Environment Appropriations bill now allocates $1.9 million to such research.

- A Rutgers study finds — not surprisingly — that women who participate in the FORGE (Female Offender Re-entry Group) program in Essex County are less likely to commit another crime than those who don’t participate in the program. The program helps ex-offenders re-integrate into society.

You still can avoid the polls altogether by applying in person for a vote by mail application to the Hudson County Clerk until 3 pm the day before the election (that’s today). To do so, visit the clerk’s office at its new location on the 4th floor of Hudson County Plaza, (257 Cornelison Ave.) before 3 pm today. You’ll submit an application (check it out here) and receive the vote by mail ballot, which then has to be delivered to the Board of Elections (located down the hall from the clerk’s office) no later than 8 pm on election day.

How do I find my polling place?

Your polling place is listed on the sample ballot you should have received via mail; alternatively, you can find it on this website.

Do I have to show ID?

You need to provide ID if you are a first-time voter who registered by mail and did not provide proper identification or the information you provided could not be verified.

How do I know if the machine counted my vote?

If you’re not sure whether your vote was counted, ask a poll worker for help. Make sure that you press large “X” to the bottom right after you make your selections to register your vote on the machine. You may only vote on an emergency paper ballot if the poll worker has determined that the machine is malfunctioning.

What if my right to vote is challenged by an official challenger?

Ask the poll worker for an affidavit, which you will sign to confirm your identity or address. The worker will then allow you to vote either on the machine or by a provisional ballot.

You have the right to cast a provisional ballot if:

• You believe you are entitled to vote but your name is not on the poll list of voters.
• You have moved recently within your county and have not registered at your new address.
• You are a first-time voter and you did not provide the accepted form of ID when you registered to vote and did not bring it on Election Day. (In this instance, you must bring acceptable ID to the county clerk within 48 hours of voting for your provisional ballot to be counted.)
• You requested a mail-in ballot but didn’t receive it in time.

If you are still not allowed to vote, you have the right to present your case to an election judge on Election Day who will determine your eligibility to vote. For more on that process, check out this PDF.

If you have any problems at the polls or questions about the process, you can call the NJ ACLU and League of Women Voters’ Voter Protection Hotline at 1-800-792-VOTE (8683).

- It’s been more than three months since political consultant Jack Shaw’s death at his Paulus Hook home, and authorities have still not publicly announced his cause of death. There has been much speculation that Shaw committed suicide; his death came just five days after he and scores of others were arrested on federal corruption charges.

- Homeowners, get ready for a jump in water/sewer rates. The Municipal Utilities Authority has voted to raise the combined water/sewer rate from this year’s estimated $6.57 per 100 cubic feet to $8.15 per 100 cubic feet, an increase of 24 percent. The new rate will go into effect Jan. 1.

- CFG Health Systems has filed a lawsuit accusing Hudson County of flouting the state’s pay-to-play law when it awarded a contract for medical services at the jail and juvenile detention center to a campaign donor and former employee.

- Color Lines magazine has a heartbreaking story of a former Jersey City resident who was deported to Jamaica. His family was left behind and eventually became homeless after a job loss caused their eviction. (Excerpt here at The Root; full story at Color Lines.)

- Dislocations has an interesting post on the “history & mystery” behind the St. Jude statue at St. Lucy’s on Grove Street.

- Don’t be alarmed by this morning’s waterfront gunfire. It’s only the USS New York; the ship will stop at the World Trade Center site at 8 am for a 21-gun salute.

In statewide news:

- New Jersey will elect its next governor tomorrow. The latest Monmouth University/Gannett New Jersey poll released Sunday shows once again a statistical dead heat and slipping numbers for the independent. It finds that Republican challenger Chris Christie is backed by 43 percent of likely voters, with Corzine pulling 42 percent and Chris Daggett at 8 percent. As the candidates scrambled to campaign on the final weekend, the state “took on the carnival-like feel of a political convention,” and the Times has a look at the New Jersey race (and the gov race in Virginia) from a national perspective. Meanwhile, Corzine is now saying that toll hikes are off the table and that his comments were mischaracterized by the Times last week. Gannett’s Michael Symons says the race has become “a referendum on the independent running third in public-opinion polls,” posing the question that is surely on many voters’ minds: “In a close race, is Chris Daggett worth voting for?” Speaking of Daggett, state GOP leaders are accusing the Democrats of pushing out a robocall that they claim tries to trick Republican voters into casting their ballots for Daggett in order to take votes from Christie.

- Also on the ballot tomorrow: A $400 million ballot question on extending the state’s open space program. With the economy and voters’ revived willingness to reject ballot questions in the background, environmental groups are running a $600,000 campaign to support the public question, while conservatives and others worried about the state’s fiscal health are advocating a “no” vote.

- The White House says the federal economic stimulus package has created or retained 24,000 jobs in New Jersey so far.

- A report from the federal Small Business Administration finds that New Jersey’s 205,321 small businesses account for 98.5 percent of the state’s employers and 51.1 percent of the state’s private-sector work force.

- A Rutgers researcher is working to develop integrated methods to capture and exterminate bedbugs that won’t wreak widespread environmental damage, including encasing mattresses, applying hot steam, placing interceptors under the legs of furniture so they can’t reach their hosts, and devising traps that will lure and kill them.

- Weird NJ has released the first in a series of iPhone apps, featuring haunting locations found in the Garden State.

- Matt Friedman takes a look at the race for the state Assembly’s 31st District, which covers Bayonne and part of Jersey City. The Dems are running Anthony Chiappone (who has been indicted on campaign fraud charges) and Charles Mainor; Kim Asbury and Marie Day are running on the Republican line.

- Independent gubernatorial candidate Chris Daggett was in Jersey City campaigning yesterday. And the Journal has endorsed Gov. Corzine for re-election.

- The Star-Ledger‘s Pizza Patrol hits Jersey City for stops at Prince of Pizza, La Rustique, Frank’s Famous and John’s.

- More than 500 people are expected to participate tomorrow in Hudson County’s first Alzheimer’s Association Memory Walk. The walk takes place in Liberty State Park.

In statewide news:

- Wondering why President Obama is making so many appearances on behalf of Gov. Corzine’s campaign? According to Politico, the White House is desperate to win New Jersey to avoid a setback in its own agenda — so much so that one of Obama’s key political advisers has become the central strategist for the Corzine campaign. This is as Daggett says he has received pressure from national Republicans to drop out of the governor’s race. Meanwhile, a new Farleigh Dickinson University poll shows the race still tight, with Republican Chris Christie at 41 percent, Corzine at 39, and Daggett at 14. Corzine and Christie talk to the Times about their economic plans, and all three candidates talk with the Tri-State Transportation Campaign about smart growth, traffic safety and transparency. Lastly, about 175,000 people have applied to vote through the state’s well publicized new vote-by-mail program.

- Some more bad economic news: The Rutgers Economic Advisory Service predicts that it will take 10 more years for the number of New Jerseyans who are working to surpass the 2007 peak.

- The state is rolling out a six-month pilot program that aims to guarantee that all children born in the state are covered by health insurance before they leave the hospital.

- Shots were fired this week at the Sussex County home of anti-immigrant conservative CNN talker Lou Dobbs.

- City officials broke ground yesterday at the Lafayette Senior Living Center on Pacific Avenue for a new 63-unit public housing complex to be named Glennview Townhouses in honor of late Mayor Glenn Cunningham. The Hope VI project will include 63 apartments — 38 will be affordable housing, 17 will be tax credit apartments, and 8 will be rented out at market rate.

- The Friends of the High Line co-founder Robert Hammond was in Jersey City this past weekend talking to Embankment Preservation Coalition supporters about the similarities between the two projects; he reports back to his NYC folks that the historic Downtown Jersey City structure “holds an untouched beauty” and is “another amazing opportunity for a great linear public space.”

- A few folks from the fringe Westboro Baptist Church sect showed up to protest outside of Dickinson High School yesterday. The Journal has reaction from a few students. The scene was a bit bigger down in New Brunswick, where more than 1,000 turned out to protest the Kansas-based group.

- At last night’s City Council meeting, union officials representing Jersey City employees came out to ask the city to avoid resorting to furloughs to address the budget deficit.

- The Long Island-based brokerage firm Broadridge Financial Solutions has extended its stay at 2 Journal Square, signing a lease to fully occupy the 320,000-square-foot office building for the next seven years.

- NJCU professor and political blogger Thurman Hart points to Gov. Corzine’s lack of disciplinary actions regarding the corruption here in Jersey City as one reason he is casting his ballot for independent Chris Daggett.

- The new Hudson County Plaza building had its official ribbon cutting yesterday.

- The general manager of the Best Buy under construction in a Downtown strip mall tells Jersey City Construction they hope to have store open by Nov. 13.

In statewide news:

- The next governor could have a profound impact on the state Supreme Court, potentially appointing s many as four justices to the seven-member body. Meanwhile, the three major candidates all began their home stretch of campaigning as the race enters its final days. And eight of the state’s largely unknown independent candidates debated in a mostly empty school auditorium last night. Lastly, the Tri-State Transportation Campaign has outlined the stances of the three major candidates on transportation issues.

- Last month, traffic on the Garden State Parkway and the New Jersey Turnpike saw its first year-over-year increase since April 2008.

If you aren’t currently registered to vote, you have to register by the end of the night on Tuesday, Oct. 13 to be eligible to vote in the November election. Keep in mind: Monday is a federal holiday (Columbus Day), so registration offices will be closed. To accommodate the greatest number of people who want to register, the Jersey City Clerk’s office (280 Grove St., 1st Floor) and Hudson County’s Commissioner of Registration office (257 Cornelison Ave., Room 4001) will be open until 9 pm tonight, tomorrow night and Tuesday night (the 13th).