COURT HOUSE- It’s possible that some local candidates that celebrated victories Nov. 6 could find out early next week they didn’t win their race.
The aftermath of Hurricane Sandy has created havoc for election boards statewide trying to accommodate voters who left their homes due to the storm.
According to county Board of Elections Registrar Michael Kennedy, a number of votes are yet to be counted.
“Late yesterday, we got a directive from the state that email ballots can be received in our office until Friday at 8 p.m.” he said.
He said his staff was beginning to count provisional ballots.
“We have about 600 in our office as of today but we’re still waiting for the other counties…” said Kennedy.
Those provisional ballots are from residents displaced by the hurricane who voted in other counties or at another precinct in Cape May County.
He said those ballots were scheduled to be overnighted to the Board of Elections today.
“Because of the unusual circumstances, I don’t think we’re going to have a total until probably sometime early next week,” said Kennedy.
He said those ballots could affect the result of close races.
“There’s a lot of ballots that haven’t been counted yet because of the circumstances and because the way the state has changed things,” said Kennedy.
Victories were slim for candidates in Lower and Middle townships. The mayoral race in Cape May was separated by two votes: 666 for Edward J. Mahaney, 647 for Russell Chew.
Kennedy said the County Clerk’s Office had 42 email ballots to send out.
“It’s unprecedented,” he said.
Cape May – Governor Murphy says he doesn't know anything about the drones and doesn't know what they are doing but he does know that they are not dangerous. Does anyone feel better now?
