Recount Confirms Woodbine Borough Council Vote Tally

COURT HOUSE — A Mon., Nov. 29 recount of Woodbine’s Borough Council election Nov. 2, under scrutiny of Superior Court Judge Raymond A. Batten, found no incorrect tallies.
At the county Board of Election on Mechanic Street, the election totals were read and confirmed: Mary Helen Perez, 541; Eduardo Ortiz, 468; Douglas Watkins, 373 and Roger Geene, 262.
Unsuccessful candidate Roger Geene and one of the victors, Mary Helen Perez, witnessed the recount of mail-in, provisional and machine totals. Neither questioned the results when asked by Batten.
Geene said he knew there would not be a change in the outcome of the election. The recount was only requested to verify the numbers, he said.
Geene is compiling a complaint which outlines questionable behavior of candidates involved, and those who state they have evidence that some voted fraudulently.
Present at the table with Batten was Peter Trofa and Hobart Sapp, Board of Election members, and registrars Joyce Erb Woolford and Michael Kennedy.
Board employees tallied the numbers as Kennedy read them aloud.
Observing the recount was County Clerk Rita Marie Fulginiti, Deputy County Clerk Jo Ann Hunt, and Woodbine Municipal Clerk Lisa Garrison.
Three electronic voting machines lined the wall of the room. They were opened after the arrival of Batten.
The judge, who has overseen recounts in numerous elections, many with the former 846-pound voting machines which were sold as scrap, commented as the trio of machines were warming up to produce their paper totals, “They’re different than the old machines. It makes you feel like a dinosaur.”
Some of the 81 mail-in ballots were discounted because they contained too many votes, or were improperly completed. All mail-in ballots were viewed first by Woolford then read aloud by Kennedy.
Contact Campbell at (609) 886-8600 Ext 28 or at: al.c@cmcherald.com