Joseph Salerno is holding on to a 227-vote lead over Tim Alexander in the race for the Democratic nomination for Congress in New Jersey’s 2nd district after vote-by-mail ballots in Atlantic County in a race that will remain too close to call until at least next week.
Salerno is now ahead, 13,370 to 13,143, with Carolyn Rush at 7,511 and Rodney Dean at 1,185. Alexander’s lead in Atlantic grew from 359 to 544.
The winner will take on Rep. Jeff Van Drew (R-Dennis) in November.
Salerno’s lead had been at 412 this morning before Superior Court Judge Michael Blee ordered 1,909 contested mail-in ballots counted.
Atlantic still has roughly 574 provisional ballots that won’t be counted until next week, but that number includes both parties.
Cape May still has 639 vote-by-mail ballots uncounted, and 161 provisional ballots, including 77 Democrats and 84 Republicans. There are ten cure letters outstanding for VBM voters to repair technical defects; seven come from Republicans and three from Democrats.
Gloucester County has about 514 uncounted VBM ballots and 77 provisionals from both parties. Cumberland is reporting 251 vote-by-mail ballots and 148 provisionals, also from both parties. In Salem, there are 110 mail-in ballots and 66 provisionals from Democrats and Republicans.
In the fourteen Ocean County municipalities in the 2nd district in Democrat, there are 119 vote-by-mail ballots and 242 provisionals still to be counted.