Local elections decided by ten votes or less would get a recount at the candidate’s request under legislation introduced by Assemblyman Al Barlas (R-Cedar Grove).
Under Barlas’ plan, a candidate can bypass the courts and get a no-cost recount simply by asking county election officials within three days of the certification.
The impetus behind the plan appears to be a daffy but perhaps unintentional ruling by Superior Court Judge Robert Gardner last year that denied a recount bid by a Caldwell council candidate trailed by just four votes and a margin of just one-tenth of one percent.
“If it’s within single digits, it’s preposterous that you have to go to court,” Barlas said. “I think we can all agree that if it’s within single digits, it’s worthy of a recount.”
When the candidates sought an expedited appeal of Gardner’s decision so the recount could be held before the township council reorganized in January, Appellate Court Chief Judge Thomas Sumners, Jr. inexplicably scheduled a hearing for February.
Sumners was in no rush.
“Appellants have not demonstrated that reversal of the trial court’s order must be done before the candidates-elect is sworn in early January 2024,” Sumners wrote in his order. “Our courts have the authority to revoke a certificate of election and remove an incumbent from office.”
According to Sumners, Gardner would revoke Rodeffer’s certification of the election if the recount were to change the election results and then order one issued to Giermanski.
Barlas’ bill seeks to remedy that issue, too, requiring the chief justice of the New Jersey Supreme Court to designate at least three judges in each of the three regions of the state to serve as election judges to speed up the process, even if it means a matter outside their home vicinage.
Superior Court judges would be required to act within 36 hours of the filing for a recount, and Appellate Court judges would have 24 hours.
Gardner did not immediately respond to a call seeking comment.
In the 2023 Caldwell race, Democrat Vivian Rodeffer defeated Republican Matt Giermanski, 928-924 (24.92% to 23.82%), with another Republican, Nicholas Correale, not far behind with 918. Democrat Kenneth Jurgenson was the top vote-getter with 953.
Not wanting to be labeled as sore losers in a small town, Giermanski and Jurgenson decided not to pursue a protracted lawsuit and accept the “non-audited election results.”
Recounts of close municipal races in five municipalities produced different results.
In Oakland, where Mayor Linda Schwager lost re-election by 56 votes, Superior Court Judge Peter Greiger granted her request for a recount. While the outcome didn’t change, the numbers did – significantly.
The new count added 84 votes for Schwager and 50 for her Republican challenger, Eric Kulmala. That cut Kulmala’s margin of victory from 56 to 33, a 41.1% difference from the certified count.
Morris County Assignment Judge Stuart Minkowitz ordered a recount in the race for Parsippany Township Council after just one vote separated Democrat Judy Hernandez and Republican Adam Kandil, but he made Kandil pay $1,053 within 48 hours to move forward. Hernandez wound up picking up another seven votes.
In Harvey Cedars, where an incumbent running as a write-in candidate lost by fifteen votes, Judge Valter H. Must in Ocean County denied a recount before anyone could oppose it.
Jonathan Oldham, the mayor for the last 30 years, had decided not to seek re-election to the three-member borough commission but then changed his mind. He lost to newcomer Joseph Gieger, 171 to 156; 312 of the tiny Long Beach Island town’s 530 voters turned out. In a head-to-head matchup, that would mean Gieger won by a four-point margin.
The recount request was filed on Friday, and Must rejected it on Wednesday without holding a hearing and without any other candidate opposing the request. No explanation was offered.