Singh expands recount bid to more counties

U.S. Senate candidate Hirsh Singh has expanded his bid for a recount to all 21 of New Jersey’s counties, the candidate announced Friday.

Singh trails Rik Mehta, the presumptive Republican nominee to take on U.S. Sen. Cory Booker, by a little more than two points, or about 8,600 votes.

“The people pay taxes to have fair and open elections. They deserve to have their votes counted. Their voices will not be silenced,” Singh said. “This election is replete with disparities, discrepancies, and irregularities.”

Singh said courts had approved recounts in four counties, with hearings pending Friday in four others.

Without much evidence to back his claims, Singh is charging that the state’s mostly-vote-by-mail primary disenfranchised “tens of thousands of voters.”

Statewide, roughly 2% of mail-in ballots and 2.5% of provisional ballots cast have been rejected for various reasons. About 404,000 votes have been counted in the Republican primary.

“This would never happen in a regular New Jersey election. Would tens of thousands of people be told in traditional polling places like firehouses, gymnasiums or community centers across the state, ‘Sorry, but your vote doesn’t count this year?’” Singh said. “The people wouldn’t stand for it.”

Singh is representing himself in the recount.