MULLICA TOWNSHIP — Democratic incumbent Committeewoman Barbara Rheault will file Tuesday for a recount, after losing her seat by one vote in this month’s election, she said Monday.
The election was certified by the
Atlantic County Clerk’s Office on Friday, at which point the vote
tallies were 614 for Rheault and 615 for Republican challenger John
Walther.
“I owe it to the people who voted
for me and helped in my campaign,” said Rheault, a fifth-grade teacher
in Mullica and president of the Mullica Township Education Association.
She said there was a possibility
of mistakes with vote-by-mail and provisional ballots, since Mullica
doesn’t have its own postal ZIP code. Its residents use mailing
addresses that say Egg Harbor City or Hammonton, or post office boxes in
the Elwood section of the township.
Some legitimate ballots may have
been mistakenly rejected because of the address issue, or mistakenly
sent to other municipalities, she said.
Her attorney Bard Shober, of
Pleasantville, said he will file paperwork with state Superior Court
seeking a recount of machine, mail-in and provisional ballots. He also
is seeking to look at paper ballots in Hammonton and Egg Harbor City, he
said.
The deadline is Wednesday for requesting a recount, said Shober, and he expects the issues to be resolved in two weeks or so.
“The time frame depends on the judge,” he said.
There was also an issue with
provisional ballots not being available in some polling places for a
time, after the Atlantic County Clerk’s Office failed to properly
deliver the paper ballots to municipalities.
Provisional ballots are used in
specific circumstances, such as when a poll book says a voter applied
for a vote-by-mail ballot but wants to vote in person. The paper ballot
allows the person to vote, while giving the county time to make sure the
person didn’t also send in a mail-in ballot.
Superior Court Judge Mark H.
Sandson is overseeing a court process to determine how the mistake
happened, and to make sure it can’t happen again. Last week, he ordered
the creation of a bipartisan committee to report to him 9 a.m. Feb. 1.
In Mullica, the tally was 579 for
businessman Walther and 563 for Rheault after machine voting. But after
Walther received 34 votes by mail and Rheault received 49, the total
tightened to 613 for Walther and 612 for Rheault. Each received two
provisional votes, leading to the final 615-614 total, according to the
county.
The first time she ran in 2012, she won easily, she said.
“Granted, it was a presidential
election year,” she said, so turnout was higher and she was the highest
vote-getter with 1,416 votes.
Rheault also made an unsuccessful bid for Atlantic County freeholder last year.
This year “just shows every vote counts,” she said.
Contact: 609-272-7219
3 comments:
Do the tax payers have to pay for this recount?
No, as the candidate requesting the recount, it was up to me to pay the filing fees associated with the cost of a recount.
The party filing the request for recount is responsible for paying the filing fees and costs associated with the request - and I have done so.
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