Red Bank Republican chair Sean Di Somma (left to right), Bruce Padula, attorney, Republican council candidate Michael Whelan and Rajvir S. Goomer, attorney for Democratic Councilman Michael DuPont, watch as a Board of Elections official counts ballots on Nov. 20. MICHAEL NUNES/STAFF The results of the Red Bank Borough Council recount did not go the way Councilman Michael DuPont was hoping.
When votes were tallied on Nov. 3, Republican challenger Michael Whelan had outdrawn DuPont, the council incumbent, by two votes, a lead that increased to three votes after the Nov. 20 recount at the Board of Election offices in Freehold.
“You won again, fourth time,” Sean Di Somma, Republican chairman for the borough, joked to Whelan when the results were announced.
Whelan has consistently said he was sure that results would show that he was the winner in the Nov. 3 race for a Borough Council seat. “We’re happy that it’s over and it’s finally over. We knew it would stand, we were pretty confident,” said Whelan, who was joined by his running mate Mark Taylor.
The election results brought the Democratic dominance of the Borough Council to an end, with two Republicans gaining two seats formerly held by Democrats. As a result of the election, there will be four Republicans and two Democrats on the council in 2016.
The recount by the county resulted in all the candidates gaining votes. Taylor led with 1,038 votes, five more than the initial results reported by the county; Whelan tallied 971 votes, an increase of four votes; DuPont totaled 968 votes, picking up three more votes; and Michael Ballard, the other Democratic candidate, drew 937 votes, also a gain of three.
In addition to votes cast on Election Day, board personnel hand-counted 165 mail-in ballots and 18 provisional ballots.
After counting mail-in ballots, the board found that Whelan garnered an additional two votes, bringing his total to 69, while DuPont remained the same at 94.
Recounting provisional ballots gave DuPont three additional votes, increasing his total to nine, while Whelan gained two, bringing his total to six.
According to Leah Falk, chairwoman of the board of elections, hand recounts are oftentimes more accurate.
“A hand recount is very accurate because the machine will sometimes not pick up a little dot that’s in a box. The hand recount is the most accurate way to go,” said Falk.
During the recount, one ballot was counted in Whelan’s favor despite the mark being outside the box.
According to Falk, an instance where the machine doesn’t pick up a vote occurs “almost every time.”
“It was quite a difference. Three votes here, three votes there … the machine just doesn’t pick it up.”
Despite the outcome, an attorney representing the three-term borough councilman at the recount said there are still avenues to be pursued.
“We’re looking in to it, there hasn’t been a final decision,” said Rajvir S. Goomer, of the law firm Hoagland, Longo, Moran, Dunst and Doukas, when asked if DuPont intended to contest the decision.
According to Goomer, DuPont would be looking into the six rejected provisional ballots — 24 were cast in total and 18 were accepted — and mail-in ballots to determine if they agree with the board’s decision.
“If we feel like we don’t agree with their decision, in this case by more than three votes, we may contest it,” he said, adding that DuPont has ten days to contest the recount results after they are certified.
Contact Michael Nunes at [email protected].