By Walter Elliott
NEWARK – While “to be counted” ballots and the clock are winding down on the Nov. 3 General and Board of Education Elections, there are five “Local Talk News” area contests, as of 12:43 p.m. Nov. 11, that may be too close to call.
That time and date – 12:43 p.m., Nov. 11 “Veteran’s Day” – is the latest unofficial election day results posted by Essex County Clerk Chris Durkin’s Elections Division.
The rankings of all 26 federal, Essex County, municipal and boards of education elections “winners and runners-up” that registered voters had been deciding on remain unchanged.
Only the vote tallies, reflecting the continuing counting of Vote By Mail Ballots by the clerk’s elections division staff, have changed.
There is one municipal and four boards of education races, however, where the last candidate who “attained” the last office seat and the top “also-ran” are within up to 372 votes of each other. The final, certified vote counts will determine who gets the last council or school board seat and who does not.
The Nov. 3 elections, however, does not have, and never had, percentages reports of voting districts. While each municipality was required to have at least one voting machine 6 a.m. – 8 p.m. that Tuesday, 97 percent of statewide voting was done with Vote By Mail Ballots. This permutation was in response to the COVID-19 Coronavirus pandemic.
“Local Talk,” as an alternative, formulated a one percent plurality margin as its criteria for determining how close an election race is. By one percent, “Local Talk” used one percent of the overall votes a municipality or school district have received as counted 12:43 p.m. Nov. 11.
This one percent margin is like an Indycar or stock car driver drafting behind the car ahead of him on her. The approaching driver gets so close that he or she picks up the negative pressure generated by the lead car. The lead car is suddenly towing the following car until either the latter attempts a slingshot pass – or the towing car shakes off his or her pursuer.
In the WEST ORANGE TOWNSHIP COUNCIL election, H. William “Bill Rutherford still has the third and last seat with 8,531 votes. Fourth-placed candidate Monica Perkowski, however, has 8,259 votes. Rutherford’s plurality on Perkowski is 372 votes – within 521 votes or the one percent of so-far votes counted range.
In the ORANGE BOARD OF EDUCATION race, current Board President Tyrone J. Tarver holds 1,820 votes or 94 markers ahead of current board member Jeff Wingfield’s 1,726. The 94 vote margin falls within this contest’s one percent of 140 votes.
The SOUTH ORANGE-MAPLEWOOD BOE contest for its third and last seat, Elissa Maplespina has 8,284 votes or 123 ahead of Deborah Engel’s 8,161. Their 123 vote gap falls within the 438 one-percent margin.
In a BLOOMFIELD BOE battle for the third and last seat, Kasey Dudley, at 6,648, has 142 votes over Ellen Rogers’ 6,506. Their gap falls within the 389 one percent margin.
The bids for BELLEVILLE BOE TRUSTEES has Fernando A. Acevedo Jr.s 3,046 tally is 78 votes over Lissa Missaggia’s 2,968. Those 78 votes are within Belleville’s 168 one-percent margin.
The Acevedo-Missaggia joust, however, may be moot should the BOE Trustee ahead of them decide to resign before their Jan. 1 inauguration. Incumbent Trustee Erica Jacho, who is in line for her second three-year term, may be asked to step down in light of her Oct. 20-21 DWI arrest.
There are also several other variables that questioning candidates can avail of themselves – but whose deadlines are fast approaching.
Candidates who want a recount must file for one to the Essex County Board of Elections, here at the Hall of Records, before 4 p.m. Nov. 20 A conducted recount may postpone Clerk Durkin’s certification of that election’s results another two weeks.
Candidates may also file legal challenges of the results here on or before Dec. 5. Such challenges start with a vote recount.
Unrecounted or unchallenged election results are otherwise posed for Durkin’s certification as early as Nov. 24.
(An extra week was added to allow the United States Postal Service to deliver postmarked VBMBs on or before Nov. 10.)
