The count should be concluded by Friday.
By: Jennifer Potash
The methodical rechecking of voting machines and recounting of ballots is under way in the 12th Congressional District.
Democrat Rep. Rush Holt was declared the winner last week with a 653-vote lead over Republican Dick Zimmer. Based on the results obtained from the five county clerks, Rep. Holt had 146,165 votes to Mr. Zimmer’s 145,512.
Somerset County Superior Court Judge Robert Guterl, who approved Mr. Zimmer’s request for a recount last week, set the terms at that time for the recount started in Hunterdon and Monmouth counties Monday.
The recount in Mercer, Middlesex and Somerset counties were to begin at 10 a.m. today.
The count should be concluded by Friday, according to the judge.
After the first day of counting, election officials are required to resume counting at 8 a.m. on subsequent days, according to the order.
The voting machines will be checked first, then the paper, absentee, emergency and provisional ballots, in that order.
Representatives from both campaigns will be allowed to observe the process.
Mercer County elections officials will open the voting machines – 173 in the 106 voting districts comprising the 12th Congressional District – and compare the vote totals on the mechanical wheels versus what the poll workers wrote on the tally sheets Nov. 7, according to Mercer County Superintendent of Elections Dulcy Ricciani.
"It’s actually a rechecking of the machines," she said. "The recount refers to the absentees, paper, emergency and provisional ballots."
Mercer and Monmouth counties use mechanical voting machines, in which the votes are recorded on a dial or a wheel, similar to an adding machine, said Ms. Ricciani.
The other counties in the 12th Congressional District use electronic voting machines, which record the votes via electronic tape and also have a backup tape, like a computer, she said.
Once the voting machine numbers are tallied, the Board of Elections will remove the various paper ballots from a secure safe in the elections office and recount each set according to the judge’s order, Ms. Ricciani said.
The machines are reliable and the overall system in Mercer County works well, said Ms. Ricciani, who also serves as the chairwoman of a statewide election superintendent association.
While the judge set Friday as the date to conclude the recount, at least one elections official indicated he is unsure the deadline will be met.
The Mercer County elections official, who asked not to be named, said the speed of the count depends upon how many people are in the room and how many times the count is interrupted with challenges.
Peter Yeager, spokesman for Rep. Holt’s campaign, said he understood the judge’s order does not intend for any challenge of ballots already held valid, but to make sure the vote count is accurate.
The focus is on the voting machine counts, said John Holub, campaign manager for Mr. Zimmer.
Also, should the candidate who sought the recount gain the lead, that candidate may request that the process stop, Ms. Ricciani said. But the other candidate, she said, has the right to request that the recount continue.
The count of all the votes took two-and-a-half weeks as the two campaigns went to court and wrangled over the admissibility of various absentee and provisional ballots.
Mercer County will likely exceed its budget for the 2000 election as election workers have pulled several overtime shifts to complete the count, Ms. Ricciani said.