Vauss team scores clean sweep in Irvington

Three days after Essex County election officials stopped counting votes in Irvington after signs of ballot tampering, final results in the race for four ward council seats provided Mayor Tony Vauss with a decisive sweep.

The candidates backed by Vauss were the alleged victims of a ballot scheme that is now facing an investigation.

East Ward Councilman Paul J. Inman lost his seat by 75 votes, 55%0-45%, to Sean Evans.  Evans had the backing of Vauss.

In the North Ward, Councilman Orlander Vick beat Micano Evra by a more than 44 percentage points.  Vick won 692 to 239, 68%-23%, with 85 votes cast for Eric Dixon.

Councilman Vern Cox swamped challenger Destin Nicolas to win re-election to his West Ward seat.

Cox received 519 votes (71%) to 207 cast for Nicolas.

Several hundred ballots in the North and West wards contained write-in candidates for the Board of Education, most of them with similar handwriting, sources told the Globe.

Pasteur Ralph Cadet, an auxiliary policeman in Irvington, posted a message on his Facebook page late last month urging voters to call Evra and Nicolas and give them their ballots.

Reached on Tuesday evening, Cadet confirmed the social media post, but said he had no knowledge of any efforts to write-in school board candidates.

“I did it so they can help them figure out the ballots, Cadet told the Globe.  He said he did not know if anyone had taken him up on his suggestion.

Evra and Nicolas denied any knowledge of write-in ballots.  Both told the Globe that they did not personally handle any ballots and were not connected to the school board race.