Watchung, South Boundbrook races still too close to calls

Two contested council races in Somerset County remain too close to call, and that likely won’t change until provisional ballots are counted next week.

In Watchung, Democrats widened their lead by a handful of votes.

Wendy Robinson remains out of recount range with 923 votes, while Peter Marino saw his vote total rise to 914.

That puts him more than half a point about Councilman George Sopko, who remains at 893 votes, but Marino is still within recount range of Amber Murad, who has 898 votes.

In South Bound Brook, Democratic Councilwoman Kathleen Connor received just one new vote, bringing her lead over Republican challenger Bruce Blumenthal to five votes, 421-416.

Republican Councilwoman remains in a safe first with 445 votes.

Those counts do not include provisional ballots, and the county board of elections won’t send those tallies to the clerk’s office until Nov. 12.

The New Jersey Globe has learned there are 37 provisional ballots in Watchung and 13 in South Bound Brook.

There are at least 1,000 uncounted vote-by-mail ballots in Somerset County, though it’s unclear how many of those came from either town.

The county clerk will continue accepting VBM ballots through today as long as they were post marked by election day, but provisional ballots won’t be counted until Tuesday morning

The totals likely mean Democrats will hold onto their narrow leads, but the winners won’t really be known until next week.