The Hillsborough Democratic Organization has filed a motion in Somerset Superior Court for a vote recount of the unexpired term for Hillsborough Township Committee that was on the ballot during the general election.
Republican candidate Robert Britting, who currently serves in the seat, received 7,473 votes and Democratic candidate Erynn Murray has received 7,427 votes during the general election on Nov. 8. There were three write-in votes.
Somerset County Clerk Steve Peter convened the County’s Board of Canvassers to certify the winners of the general election on Nov. 21. The certification completes the counting of ballots by the Board of Elections, and the final results were submitted to the New Jersey Secretary of State on Nov. 23.
The Hillsborough Democrats filed the motion for a vote recount on Nov. 28.
“With the margin between the two candidates being 46 votes, or less than half of 1 percent, we decided it is prudent to proceed with a recount,” Murray said. “There were two specific items we referenced in our filing. One, a voting machine malfunction in District 23 that caused confusion in the voting process and two, a problem collecting data from the early voting machines. Additionally, there were a significant number of provisional ballots cast that needed to be hand counted.
“We want to make it clear; we are not in any way suggesting or implying any malfeasance in how the results, to this point, were determined. We only know that mistakes can be made. We want to eliminate that element of uncertainty.
“This is a complicated process, and we sincerely appreciate the efforts of all those who worked to bring all the elements of it together. And once recounted we will respect the outcome,” Murray said.
General election
Along with the unexpired term, there were elections for seats on the municipal governing body for Hillsborough Township Committee, the Hillsborough/Millstone Board of Education (BOE) and a two-year unexpired term on the Hillsborough/Millstone BOE.
Hillsborough Township Committee – Vote for 1
Republican candidate John Ciccarelli received 7,603 votes to win his bid for the three-year term seat over Democratic candidate Ronald Yoder, who received 7,341 votes. There were five write-in votes.
Hillsborough/Millstone BOE – Vote for 3
Candidate Danny Lee received 7,513 votes, Candidate Joel E. Davis received 6,541 votes, and incumbent Jean Trujillo received 6,086 votes in their winning bids for the three-year term seats.
Joshua Gamse received 5,249 votes and Thomas J. Zobele received 3,989 votes in their losing bids for the seats. There were 112 write-in votes.
Hillsborough/Millstone BOE – Two-year unexpired term
Jane M. Staats received 9,517 votes for the uncontested seat. There were 97 write-in votes.