By Ed Birch, Special Writer
Tuesday’s election to fill three positions on the South Brunswick Board of Education was placed into a state of confusion after the polls closed with one of the contested seats separated by only 110 votes.
Candidates Azra Baig and incumbent member Barry Nathanson remained close in the voting with Nathanson up by slightly more than 100 votes, according to results from the Middlesex County Clerk’s Office.
According to that tally, incumbent Stephen Parker was re-elected with 5,103 votes and newcomer Peter St. Vincent won a seat with 4,456 votes.
The race between Mr. Nathanson and Ms. Baig, however, may take days or weeks to decide due to the number of absentee and provisional votes still to be counted in the county, according to officials.
Mr. Nathanson is currently edging out Ms. Baig 4,167-4,052 votes, according to the county clerk.
Candidate Ray Kuehner garnered 3,511 votes, according to the tally by the county.
The delay is the result of extraordinary voting measures put into place throughout the state in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy and more votes may be counted before the official results are in, according to officials.
The final counts are expected to be made public within the next few days.
”There is no rhyme or reason as to the method that people use to vote, if they do vote for these offices,” Mr. Nathanson said. “We must just sit back and wait for the elections people to do their counting and auditing.”
Azra Baig could not accept victory or accept the loss at this point.
”It has been a great experience and I have learned a lot from this campaign,” Ms. Baig said. “I have met some really nice people and I am looking forward to representing everyone in the position. It is certainly not over yet.”

