Judge will decide if Holley gets a recount within the next week

A bid by Jamel Holley to get a hand recount of his bid for the Democratic nomination for mayor of Roselle.  Incumbent Donald Shaw defeated Holley, a former assemblyman and mayor, by 76 votes.

Superior Court Judge Mark Ciarrocca said he’ll issue a ruling before the end of next week.

Holley has claimed irregularities, suggesting a 175-vote discrepancy in the total

But County Counsel Bruce Bergen told Ciarrocca that the county clerk, Joanne Rajoppi, believes undervotes are generally not disqualified votes.  He said it occurs “when a voter by choice only votes for some of the offices on a ballot, leaving one or more unvoted.”

“You must have competent, credible evidence in order to support a request for a recount,” Bergen said.  “I would suggest every contest the loser would like to get a recount. So you can’t just say there was an election I lost.  I want a recount.  There has to be a factual basis.  Some and I would suggest, again, there’s nothing before the court that would support that in this case.”

Bergen also disputed Holley’s math.”  “We have 1,484 votes for Mr. Shaw, 1,408 votes for Mr. Holley, and 14 write-in votes. Now, we know from other submissions that there are also 67 undervotes.  So if you add the 67 and the ten back in, you get a total of Democratic votes of 2983.  If you subtract 2983 from the valid cast total 3,081, you get a difference of 98 votes.  That’s how many Republicans voted in Roselle in the primary, so that total includes Republican votes.”

“There is no discrepancy. There’s no basis for a recount based on those numbers,” he said.

Holley’s attorney, James Plosia, Jr., argued that the closeness of the race merits a recount.

“The result of the election was sufficiently close that the denial of a request for a recount would undermine the integrity of the electoral process, and Mr. Holley submits that that is the case here,” Plosia said.

Ciarrocca gently scolded the legislature for their failure to update laws to reflect changes in voting in recent years.

“The recount statute hasn’t changed,” he said.   “We follow the statute.”

Ciarrocca denied a request by the New Jersey Globe to livestream today’s hearing.  Ciarrocca decided to conduct an in-person hearing, which forced community members and interested parties to go to Elizabeth to observe the proceedings.