The appeal was filed Monday with Judge Anthony Parillo of the Appellate Division of Mercer County state Superior Court.
By: Lea Kahn
Councilman Mark Holmes, who is seeking re-election to Township Council, is appealing a Superior Court judge’s decision on absentee ballots that has a Dec. 27 deadline attached to it.
Mr. Holmes, who lost the Nov. 6 election to Democratic Party candidate Michael Powers, is seeking to have all absentee ballots counted including those ballots that arrived at the Mercer County Board of Elections office Nov. 7 and Nov. 8.
The appeal was filed Monday with Judge Anthony Parrillo of the Appellate Division of Mercer County state Superior Court. Legal briefs must be filed today (Thursday) by attorneys Peter Sheridan and Arthur Sypek Jr. The attorneys represent the Republican and Democratic candidates, respectively.
It was not known when Judge Parrillo would rule on the appeal as The Ledger went to press Wednesday.
Mr. Holmes is appealing a Dec. 13 ruling by Mercer County state Superior Court Judge Linda Feinberg that would count irradiated absentee ballots that arrive at the Mercer County Board of Elections office by Dec. 27. Those ballots are the ones that were stuck in the Hamilton post office when it was closed Oct. 18 because of anthrax contamination.
Judge Feinberg ruled Dec. 13 that 23 absentee ballots received by the county Board of Elections Nov. 7 and Nov. 8, as well as 18 absentee ballots received after Nov. 8, should not be counted.
The judge stated in her Dec. 13 ruling that it is impossible to attribute the tardiness of those ballots to the closing of the Hamilton post office. She said it’s possible that the ballots simply were mailed too late to arrive at the Board of Elections by Nov. 6.
In an earlier ruling issued Dec. 6, Judge Feinberg decertified the election results, which had given one seat to incumbent Republican Township Councilman Rick Miller and one seat to Mr. Powers.
Judge Feinberg’s Dec. 6 order also postponed Township Council’s Jan. 1 reorganization meeting until the two winners of the contested election can be determined.
Mr. Miller, Mr. Holmes’ running mate, said he was pleased that Judge Parrillo has decided to consider the case. Obviously, the judge thinks the case has merit, and that is encouraging, he said.
Mr. Powers said he could not fault Mr. Holmes for exercising his legal right to appeal Judge Feinberg’s ruling. He said he was not surprised by the appeal, "but at some point there has to be finality."
That the Appellate Division has agreed to consider the case means it recognizes that time is of the essence to make the election final, Mr. Powers said.
The candidates for two Township Council seats have been in and out of court over the results almost since the date of the election. The candidates asked for and received rechecks of the voting machine tallies and the absentee ballots that arrived before Election Day.
Mercer County Clerk Cathy DiCostanzo previously certified the election results Nov. 13. Those results showed Mr. Miller with 4,259 votes, Mr. Powers with 4,176 votes, Mr. Holmes with 4,175 votes and Democrat Mark Sebastian with 4,171 votes.