Doughty Leads by 59 Votes in Middle Race

COURT HOUSE — After the Cape May County Election Board counted a record number of absentee ballots through the night of Nov. 4 and into the day of Nov. 5, the tight race for Middle Township Committee has swung back to incumbent Democrat Mayor F. Nathan Doughty.
Following the Election Day returns, Republican challenger Daniel D. Lockwood was winning by the slim margin of eight votes — 3,686 to 3,678. With the absentee votes tallied, however, Doughty has climbed back into a 59-vote lead of 4,057 to 3,998.
According to Clerk Rita Marie Fulginiti, the county saw a “tremendous” number of residents vote using absentee ballots, 5,018. The total in Middle Township was 769 absentee votes.
Lockwood had mixed emotions Tuesday night at the county clerk’s office after learning of the absentee votes and subsequent lead change. He told the Herald that a local television station had called the election in his favor earlier in the evening.
Despite the rollercoaster ride he’d been through, however, he remained upbeat.
“Whichever way the election turns out in the end, I consider this a major victory for us,” Lockwood said. “We were outspent three to one by a heavily favored incumbent and we made it a real close race. We also forced the mayor to discuss the issues important to Middle Township residents.”
In the past two elections, democratic candidates soundly defeated the GOP for seats on the governing body that hasn’t seen a Republican since former Mayor Mike Voll switched parties while in office.
In 2007, Democratic Committeewoman Susan DeLanzo received 2,305 votes to the Republican challenger Richard Cheatle’s 1,521 — a margin of nearly 800 votes. Similarly, Democrat Stephen Barry soundly defeated Republican Matthew Buesing by more than 600 votes, 3,151 to 2,546.
In this year’s election, all that remains uncounted are the provisional ballots, which are expected to number approximately 76 leaving the contest within Lockwood’s reach, at least theoretically. Fulginiti said the provisionals would be counted by Friday, Nov. 7.
Fulginiti told the Herald there were also discrepancies with emergency ballots cast in Middle Township District 8 (Whitesboro) while a voting machine malfunctioned. Superior Court Judge Raymond Batten ordered the clerk to open those machines to examine the ballots, she said.
Township Administrator James Alexis said the broken machine in Whitesboro was replaced and another machine that malfunctioned in District 18 (Swainton) was repaired during the Election Day voting.
Doughty said he is waiting until the provisional vote is counted before issuing a statement on the election.
Similarly, Michael Donohue, a county Republican Party leader, told the Herald the GOP would wait and see what happens on Friday before deciding whether to challenge the election or not.
Contact Hart at (609) 886-8600 Ext 35 or at: jhart@cmcherald.com