By:Jennifer Potash
With an unofficial lead of 499 votes, Democrat Rep. Rush Holt, a Hopewell Township resident, declared victory Friday while Republican Dick Zimmer prepared to request a recount.
"With something like 400 to 500 votes to be counted in Mercer County, that gives me indisputably the margin of victory in this campaign to represent the people of the 12th Congressional District," Rep. Holt said.
Based on the certified results Monday from Hunterdon, Middlesex, Monmouth and Somerset counties and the unofficial results from Mercer County, Rep. Holt had 145,917 votes and Mr. Zimmer had 145,418.
The Mercer County Board of Elections was still verifying and counting provisional ballots Monday and was expected to conclude the count by Wednesday.
In another development, Superior Court Judge Linda Feinberg scheduled a hearing for Tuesday with regard to the Mercer County Board of Elections’ 2-2 vote over whether to discard provisional ballots with affidavits attached with paper clips.
Mr. Zimmer cannot file for a recount until the election results have been certified by the state Division of Elections.
With tabulation errors occurring in the congressional district – such as Mr. Zimmer getting nine votes from one Ewing Township voting district when the actual total was 109 – a recount will resolve all those issues, said John Holub, campaign manager for Mr. Zimmer.
"We want to make sure it’s a fair and accurate count and that’s the bottom line," he said.
Mr. Zimmer said at news conference Nov. 16 that he expected the recount to "resolve the issue."
Once the election results have been certified in all five counties, Mr. Zimmer has said he will ask a Superior Court judge to order a recount.
Unlike Florida, where elections as close as the Holt-Zimmer race trigger an automatic recount, New Jersey law contains no such provisions. But officials said judges typically grant requests for a recount.
Peter Sheridan, attorney for Mr. Zimmer, said the recount would likely take more than two or three days.
But how long the count takes depends on a number of variables, said Lee Moore, a spokesman for the state Attorney General’s office.
Each county has its own method of counting the absentee and provisional ballots, such as by hand or electronic means, Mr. Moore said. A judge could mandate a single standard for the count, he said.
Rep. Holt started his victory lap with a press conference Friday at the State House in Trenton.
Surrounded by his campaign staff and Democratic officials, the congressman thanked his staff and recounted his achievements during his freshman term in office.
What made the difference in the election, Rep. Holt said, was not television ads or campaign flyers in mailbox but meeting with the voters one-on-one.
"Partly it was my willingness to talk turkey on issues people really care about," Rep. Holt said. "I still think there is a place for grass-roots politics and I used that extensively."
If Rep. Holt remains the winner with the plurality of the vote after the recount, he would no longer face the re-election pressures of a freshman congressman.
"I was talking with a political scientist friend of mine and it’s interesting to speculate whether a narrow victory will make me politically stronger or politically weaker," Rep. Holt said. "I’m not sure."
He also held a belated victory party Sunday evening at the Nassau Inn.
For the better part of two weeks, the vote tally has fluctuated as absentee ballots and provisional ballots were counted. Most of the daily totals showed Rep. Holt in the lead, but the margins ranged from as little as 56 votes to as many as 500 votes.
On election night, Nov. 7, some news organizations declared Mr. Zimmer the winner.
Neither candidate made a concession or a victory speech at that time.
The delay in arriving at the final count hinged on provisional ballots. Those ballots are used when a registered voter moves within a county after the registration deadline.
The ballots must be verified before being added to the vote count to ensure they are legitimate.
In the ensuing days, Mr. Zimmer and his campaign staff held press conferences to highlight what they called "irregularities" in the vote count.
Attorneys for Mr. Zimmer filed motions in Superior Court in Mercer and Middlesex counties challenging the legitimacy of about 200 ballots.
Also, Zimmer officials released information regarding a patient at a psychiatric hospital in Hunterdon County voting via absentee ballot after the woman’s family contacted the campaign.
Rep. Holt took umbrage with the "unsubstantiated" allegations.
"I call that really grasping at straws and it’s a disservice to the state of New Jersey and to the voters and to the people of New Jersey and to me personally," he said.
During a telephone call to Mr. Zimmer on Friday, Rep. Holt said he told his opponent "it was over the line to call into question the competency of an individual voter."
Rep. Holt declined to say what Mr. Zimmer’s response was – only that it was "defensive."
Mr. Holub said the campaign was "merely relaying what these concerned relatives had told us."
