Fernandes holds on to mayor’s seat in recount

Both candidates gain two votes; challenger keeps three-vote lead

BY MELISSA KARSH Staff Writer

After a recount Dec. 4, the Sea Bright mayoral election night results were upheld, leaving longtime Democratic Councilwoman Maria Fernandes victorious over incumbent Mayor Jo-Ann Kalaka- Adams by three votes.

Maria Fernandes Maria Fernandes Fernandes, of Ocean Avenue, received 276 votes to the 273 votes garnered by Kalaka-Adams, a Republican.

According to Leah Falk, chairwoman of the county Board of Elections, Fernandes gained two votes during the hand count of the absentee ballots cast in the municipal election, and Kalaka- Adams gained two votes in the hand count of the provisional ballots.

Kalaka-Adams previously received 271 votes, or 49.63 percent of the total 546 votes cast in the mayoral race, which she lost to Fernandes, who received 274, or 50.18 percent of the total votes, before the recount.

Fernandes, who has been a member of the council for the past 11 years, said the first issue she plans to tackle is the borough’s share of regional school taxes.

“Sea Bright is the town with the least amount of students [at Shore Regional High School], with the lowest property values, and yet we pay the highest property tax per student, [which is] $75,000 per student to educate 24 students,” said Fernandes. The three-time council president (2003-05) also said it was business as usual for her before the recount and that prior to the recount, she had not seen Kalaka- Adams since Election Day.

Jo-Ann Kalaka-Adams Jo-Ann Kalaka-Adams Kalaka-Adams filed for a recount Nov. 21 in the mayoral election after she attended the Matawan mayoral race recount Nov. 28, which resulted in a tie between the two candidates, Republican Paul Buccellato and Democratic incumbent Mary Aufseeser.

Although Falk did not speak to Kalaka-Adams at the Matawan recount, Falk said, Kalaka-Adams was in attendance because she had never been to a recount before and just wanted to observe the procedure, which was the same procedure for the Sea Bright recount.

“The first thing that we do is that we do the recount on the voting machines used in both of the districts in Sea Bright. And then we go to the Board of Elections offices in the same building and we do a hand recount of the absentee ballots and the provisional ballots,” said Falk.

She added, “We hope that it all comes out the same as it did on the election night and we are all home free. I would assume that it would not take long, because there are only four machines, so it would be under an hour. You don’t know what kind of snags you are going to find on the way. The results are released immediately.”

It was previously reported that Kalaka-Adams and the Sea Bright Republicans would not be seeking a recount.

“I recently spoke with Jo-Ann [Kalaka- Adams] and she said that however the votes come out, they come out. We all trust the count, and I really don’t think we’ll be asking for a recount,” GOP Councilman Brian Kelly had said previously.

Kalaka-Adams was a first-time mayoral candidate in the 2003 election and won the seat over independent candidate and former Councilman Andrew Mencinsky.