The two-decade dominance of Democrats in Red Bank hinges on a two-vote margin, which will be tested Friday. A recount of all 3,908 votes cast Nov. 3 in the municipal election will take place at 10 a.m. Nov. 20 in the Board of Elections offices in Freehold.
All votes — including ballots cast, provisionals and write-ins — will be recounted, according to Laura Kirkpatrick, director of public information for Monmouth County.
Councilman Michael DuPont, who finished two votes shy of his Republican opponent, filed for the recount.
“This count has fluctuated three times before it was certified,” said DuPont, alluding to the fact that on election night he was down by four votes in his bid for a fourth term, but after rechecking provisional ballots, the county determined the margin had been reduced to two.
“My goal is that all votes should be counted and that the count is done in accordance with the law.”
On Friday, Nov. 13, Monmouth County Superior Court Judge Katie Gummer approved DuPont’s petition for a recount.
For Republicans, this is an attempt by DuPont to postpone his defeat.
“The votes have been counted three times already; the question is how long will DuPont keep this up?” said Sean Di Somma, Republican chairman for the borough, referring to the 24 provisional ballots that the county has checked and rechecked since election night.
According to official results released by the county, DuPont, with 965 votes, came up two votes short of Republican newcomer Michael Whelan, who drew 967 votes.
Whelan’s running mate Mark Taylor was elected with the most votes with 1,033 and DuPont’s running mate Michael Ballard placed fourth in the contest for two seats with 934 votes.
Some of the 24 provisional ballots had been disallowed. There were also nine write-in ballots. If the results of the recount are unchanged on Friday, Republicans will have a 4-2 majority on the Borough Council in the new year. The last time the party had a majority was in 1989.
According to county results, there were 3,908 votes in this year’s election. In the county, only about 23 percent of registered voters participated in the election.
Contact Michael Nunes at [email protected].