Sumantha Prasad

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Sumantha Prasad
Image of Sumantha Prasad

Education

Bachelor's

Rutgers University

Graduate

Johns Hopkins University

Personal
Profession
Engineer
Contact

Personal website

Sumantha Prasad was a 2017 Pushing Us Forward candidate for District 22 of the New Jersey General Assembly.

Biography

Prasad earned her bachelor's degree in bioenvironmental engineering from Rutgers University and her master's degree in environmental engineering and science from Johns Hopkins University. Her professional experience includes working as a water resources engineer and as a civil engineer.[1]

Campaign themes

2017

Prasad's campaign website highlighted the following issues:

“

Fair Redistricting

  • In competitive districts, there are roughly equal numbers of both major parties. Considering that there are roughly twice as many registered democrats in New Jersey as there are registered Republicans, of course not every district is going to have a close to 1:1 ratio; it's mathematically impossible. However, the way that our state is currently districted, there is a clear advantage to the Democratic party -- If you are a Democrat, this might sound great, but it hurts you too because your representatives aren't motivated to represent your interests. When candidates have to earn a vote instead of taking you for granted, they're more likely to remember that they're employees of the people, not of special interests.

Open Primaries

  • Open primaries let any registered voter vote in the primaries. Unaffiliated voters get to have a say in who their candidates will be without having to file paperwork every few weeks, and affiliated voters can cross party lines if people in other parties better align with their views.
  • For example, if you're a registered Republican, but you've found yourself agreeing with a particular Democratic candidate, you would either have to change your party affiliation to vote for that person, or you would just have to vote for someone within the Republican party for that primary under the current closed primary system. Under an open primary system, you can still stay a registered Republican but vote for the candidate that is your top choice in a given election.

Ranked Choice (Preferential) Voting

  • With preferential voting, you get to rank your preferences. This allows for greater choice when electing candidates. If you vote for a candidate that you truly believe in despite knowing that particular candidate is not very popular, you still have the chance to help elect a slightly more popular candidate that is closer to what you believe in. There are many types of preferential voting systems, but the two I'd like to focus on are the Instant Runoff Voting and the Borda Count. Under Instant Runoff Voting, if the candidate with the most #1 votes has a simple majority (at least 50% + 1 vote), then that candidate will win. If no candidate has a simple majority, the candidate with the least number of votes will be eliminated, and the #2 votes are distributed to their respective candidates. Under the Borda Count, candidates are assigned points based on their ranking, and the highest-scoring candidate wins.

Single Payer Healthcare

  • Love it or hate it, the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) was an improvement to our insurance system. It has its flaws in terms of implementation and cost, but it improved access to healthcare for many citizens.
  • As the future of the Affordable Care Act hangs in the balance, it is imperative that New Jersey implements a single-payer system. This will ensure that all New Jerseyans have access to health care and won't be constrained by medical bills. It's more cost efficient than our current system as it reduces administrative costs and disparities in treatment. Instead of trying to figure out which doctor is in-network, most providers will participate in the single-payer system.[2]
 ”
—Sumantha Prasad[3]

Elections

2017

See also: New Jersey General Assembly elections, 2017

General election

Elections for the New Jersey General Assembly took place in 2017. All 80 seats were up for election. State assembly members are elected to two-year terms. The general election took place on November 7, 2017. A primary election took place on June 6, 2017. The filing deadline for the primary election was April 3, 2017.[4] Legislative districts in the New Jersey General Assembly are multi-member districts, with two representatives in each district. In Democratic and Republican primary elections, the top two candidates move forward to the general election, and the top two candidates in the general election are declared the winners.[5] The following candidates ran in the New Jersey General Assembly District 22 general election.[6][7]

New Jersey General Assembly, District 22 General Election, 2017
Party Candidate Vote % Votes
     Democratic Green check mark transparent.png James J. Kennedy Incumbent 32.62% 27,763
     Democratic Green check mark transparent.png Gerald Green Incumbent 32.05% 27,284
     Republican Richard Fortunato 17.19% 14,631
     Republican John Quattrocchi 16.07% 13,682
     Remember Those Forgotten Onel Martinez 1.11% 942
     Pushing Us Forward Sumantha Prasad 0.96% 818
Total Votes 85,120
Source: New Jersey Department of State

Democratic primary election

Incumbent James J. Kennedy and incumbent Gerald Green defeated Paul Alirangues in the New Jersey General Assembly District 22 Democratic primary election.[8][9]

New Jersey General Assembly, District 22 Democratic Primary, 2017
Candidate Vote % Votes
Green check mark transparent.png James J. Kennedy Incumbent 46.54% 10,922
Green check mark transparent.png Gerald Green Incumbent 44.72% 10,495
Paul Alirangues 8.74% 2,053
Total Votes 23,470
Source: New Jersey Department of State

Republican primary election

Richard Fortunato and John Quattrocchi were unopposed in the New Jersey General Assembly District 22 Republican primary election.[10][9]

New Jersey General Assembly, District 22 Republican Primary, 2017
Candidate Vote % Votes
Green check mark transparent.png Richard Fortunato 50.77% 2,333
Green check mark transparent.png John Quattrocchi 49.23% 2,262
Total Votes 4,595
Source: New Jersey Department of State

See also

External links

Footnotes

  1. ↑ Sumantha Prasad 2017 campaign website, "Bio," accessed August 21, 2017
  2. ↑ Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
  3. ↑ Sumantha Prasad 2017 campaign website, "Platform," accessed August 21, 2017
  4. ↑ New Jersey Secretary of State, "2017 Primary Election Timeline," accessed March 21, 2017
  5. ↑ New Jersey Division of Elections, "Official List, Candidates for General Assembly for Primary Election, June 6, 2017," accessed April 13, 2017
  6. ↑ New Jersey Department of State, "Candidates for General Assembly for General Election 11/07/2017 Election," accessed September 14, 2017
  7. ↑ New Jersey Department of State, "2017 official general election results," accessed November 30, 2017
  8. ↑ New Jersey Division of Elections, "Official Candidate List," April 6, 2017
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 New Jersey Division of Elections, “2017 official primary election results for general assembly,” accessed July 13, 2017
  10. ↑ New Jersey Division of Elections, "Official Candidate List," April 6, 2017


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