The sharply divided Readington Republican organization has new leadership after Jon Kowal replaced Andrew Saad as the GOP municipal chairman.
Kowal’s ascent to the party post follows his razor-thin loss in the Republican primary for a township committee seat. A recount last month shifted rival Eric Roades’ margin from two votes to four, but now Kowal’s attorney, Tracy Lucas, is seeking a court order for a second recount.
She claims election officials have provided conflicting explanations about the two ballots that changed the outcome of the race and have provided an entirely different pair of ballots when responding to requests for records.
The discrepancy, Lucas argues, leaves it “unclear what the final vote total is and which ballots, if any, were counted on Election Day,” and warrants a second recount and recheck
The June 23 recount left the final tally at 1,308 votes for Trevor Izzo, 1,217 for Rhoades, 1,213 for Kowal, and 1,186 for Lisa Routel, leaving Izzo and Rhoades with the Republican nominations for two Readington Township Republican County Committee seats.
According to the filing, election officials told Kowal’s counsel during the recount that two mail-in ballots containing handwritten “X” marks had been treated as overvotes on Election Day but were later adjudicated based on voter intent, resulting in the counting of votes for Izzo and Rhoades.
Lucas says those explanations are irreconcilable.
“The Board’s inconsistency in identifying which ballots actually changed the election results calls into question the validity and accuracy of the June 23, 2026, recount and recheck,” she wrote.
The filing states that Kowal’s attorneys sought clarification from election officials on July 1, asking why the ballots discussed during the recount differed from those later identified in post-recount records and when officials determined that the second pair of ballots, rather than the first, accounted for the additional votes.
As of Monday morning, the certification states, the Board had not responded.
Lucas argues the conflicting explanations prevent the parties and the court from determining which ballots, if any, were omitted on Election Day, which ballots were first counted during the recount, whether the two-vote swing resulted from voter-intent adjudication, scanner settings, or both, and whether the certified four-vote margin accurately reflects the lawful count.
Saad supported Izzo and Rhoades in the GOP primary; Saad and Township Committeeman Adam Mueller lost their bids for re-election to the county committee.
Kowal is allied with an old guard faction of the party, while Rhoades is part of a more conservative group of local Republicans.
Incumbents John Albanese and Jonathan Heller did not seek re-election in a town marked by controversy over the last few years.
Albanese pleaded guilty last year to creating a public nuisance after admitting he stole campaign signs during the 2024 Republican primary. The other GOP faction had attached Apple AirTags to the signs and traced them to Albanese’s home. Under a plea agreement, he avoided a criminal conviction.
In addition to the sign stealing, two of Albanese’s allies, Christina Albrecht and Jacqueline Hindle, avoided prison last year after planting a recording device at a local restaurant and recording a private meeting of two elected officials from a rival GOP faction. A judge accepted their admittance into the state’s Pre-Trial Intervention program.
Hunterdon County Prosecutor Renée Robeson alleged that Albrecht, whose husband, former Mayor Ben Smith, lost a Republican primary for township committee in June, placed an audio recording device on July 1 to capture private, oral communications between Mueller, Panico, and Cahill. Albrecht later returned to The Rail, a local eatery, retrieved the device, and then allegedly uploaded the recordings to a shared drive with Hindle, who ran on a GOP ticket with Smith.
One week later, prosecutors claimed Albrecht returned to The Rail while it was closed and planted the device again. That device was detected and turned over to local law enforcement.
Later, Albrecht and Hindle conspired to purchase another device to covertly record Mueller and Panico.