Vote Recount Requested In Mendham Borough Board Of Education Election

MENDHAM, NJ — An official recount of the votes for the Mendham Borough Board of Education race has been requested, according to a legal petition from candidate Margery St. John and her attorney, Debra Tedesco.

According to the final results certified by the Morris County Clerk last week, St. John is a single vote behind incumbent Barry Haines.

The official vote tally is:

• Haines: 1,265
• Gillespie: 1,528
• Vitale: 1,357
• St. John: 1,264

The legal action was filed on Nov. 22 and requests that an official recheck and recount of the votes be allowed for the board of education race. According to the petition, St. John has reason to believe that errors were made in the counting of the votes resulting in the election of Haines.

To ensure that the recheck takes place while the machines are still sealed and the mail-in ballots and provisional ballots are at the Board of Elections, St. John has asked that the court order the Morris County Board of Elections to impound the machines and all ballots.

The Superior Court will now have to decide on the motion and whether the recount is necessary.

In Morris County, several municipalities, including Mendham, experienced significant delays on Election Day as a result of new machines that were deployed to local precincts.

The Morris County Democratic Committee claimed that there were discrepancies in Mendham with voters placed in the wrong district by Clerk Grossi. "It’s appalling that with so much time to prepare for an election, such basic, fundamental mistakes were made by County Clerk Ann Grossi," Morris County Chairwoman Amalia Duarte said.

Grossi refuted that claim, claiming that the problem in Mendham with voters being placed in the wrong congressional district was caused by the electronic poll book's programming.

Poll book maintenance and programming are solely the responsibility of the Board of Elections and/or their designee.