Detailing the financial damage due to COVID-19, Governor Murphy just announced that April revenue collections dropped $3.5B since last April, an unprecedented 60% drop. ‘These numbers are a sobering reminder’ that COVID-19 isn’t limited to impacting public health, but also to the state’s financial health.

Treasurer Muoio will release data later today, the Governor said, adding that direct federal assistance is all the more necessary and urgent; a revenue collapse without layoffs or gutting services can’t be avoided without federal aid.

They released the following:

Governor Murphy just announced that non-essential retailers will be allowed to reopen for curbside pickup only on Monday effective at 6am.

The Governor also announced that non-essential construction can resume Monday at 6am, and drive-through and drive-in events with social distancing guidelines will also be permitted.

“I think he should do a hybrid election,” veteran Assemblyman Tom Giblin (D-34) of Montclair, a labor leader and former Democratic State Party chairman, told InsiderNJ when asked about what kind of process Governor Phil Murphy should apply to Primary Election Day.

The May 12th elections were all vote-by-mail (VBM).

“There were discrepancies in Irvington,” said Giblin (also in Paterson, Belleville and elsewhere). Based on what he observed of yesterday’s – often unresolved – results, the governor would be wise to open some polling sites, the assemblyman said. “The governor ought to give voters the option of going to the polls, and also allow voting by mail.” Reconfigure polling sites, maintain social distancing and step up best practices at the polls, Giblin suggested.

Veteran Assemblyman Ralph Caputo (D-28) said the May 12th all-VBM election showed significant wrinkles, and as Governor Phil Murphy prepares to make an announcement regarding the process of the July 7th primary elections, the assemblyman gave his opinion.

“He’ll probably have a hybrid,” Caputo told InsiderNJ. “It will be combination: VBMs and polling places.”

The assemblyman did echo local woes in Belleville about the post office. “I think they have to work on their game,” the Nutley-based assemblyman said.

Unofficial results revealed high voter turnout in the Medford Lakes and Bass River elections.

For the full Burlington County Times story, please go here.

Two at-large council seats appear secure in Orange but as of last night, one vote separated the two candidates battling for the third seat:

Adrienne Wooten (pictured): 1,053

Clifford Ross: 941

Weldon Montague: 577

Ed Marable: 576

Stained by a street fight in the lead up to Election Day, Paterson’s Second Ward is still unresolved.

“As far as the 2nd Ward it’s a real shame that the entire Bangladeshi community will get smeared with the actions of a few,” said Passaic County Freeholder Assad Akhter. “It’s something I always remember Congressman Pascrell telling me – the worst fights in Paterson aren’t between different ethnic groups against each other – it’s factions within the SAME ethnic group pitted against one another.”

As the Passaic County Board of Elections (BOE) resumes counting today with over 800 ballots impounded and Ward 3 Council candidate Alex Mendez and his allies crying foul, Passaic County Freeholder Assad Akhter defended BOE Commission Chair John Currie.

“They can spin whatever conspiracy they want, but no one knows election law and procedure better than John Currie and the record of the Elections Division is unblemished,” Ahkter told InsiderNJ.

A Paterson source didn’t know what to say Wednesday morning with the city still hanging like an 8.7 square mile chad, its immediate elections legacy scarred by men with bats in the street and bound ballots in a Haledon mailbox.

Oh, yeah, and COVID-19 continues to assail the high-density city.

“The fact that the ballots weren’t counted in a day should surprise no one,” said the source. “An impossible task considering the number of ballots and the difficulty of counting under a pandemic.”

Read Insider NJ’s Morning Intelligence Briefing: May 13th