Prosecutor not investigating Asbury election, source says
By mail-in ballot, 388 city residents have already cast their vote
A report that the Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office is investigating the Asbury Park election has turned out to be false, a reputable source with knowledge of the events says.
The source also told the Sun while it’s possible other officials are gathering information about the Asbury Park election, nothing has been handed over to the prosecutor’s office to date.
The Asbury Park Press reported on Thursday, citing an unnamed source, that the prosecutor’s office is investigating the city’s municipal election. The Press reported that, according to its source, it was unclear what documents or procedures were involved.
Charles Webster, a spokesperson for the Prosecutor’s Office, told the Sun on Friday that he “can neither confirm nor deny the existence of an investigation.” The Press had reported it was unable to reach Webster for comment.
Meanwhile, a total of 490 vote-by-mail [VBM] ballots have been requested by voters in Asbury Park. Of those, 309 were delivered to voters by an authorized messenger, according to data provided on Friday afternoon by the Clerk of Elections office. Of the remaining 181 ballots, 179 were sent to voters by regular mail, two were picked up in person by voters and one was emailed to a voter in Europe.
As of Friday, 388 completed VBM ballots were returned by voters to the Board of Elections office for counting. Voters have the option of designating a bearer to return the ballot for them, but all the ballots were returned by mail.
Data was not available to break down how many of those 388 returned ballots had originally been delivered to voters by messenger and how many had been mailed directly to the voter.
Anyone who helps the voter fill out an application for a VBM ballot must be disclosed as an assistor on the application. Candidates are permitted to assist with the applications, and there is no limit to how many voters they may assist. Candidates are not permitted to act as VBM ballot messengers, and authorized messengers can transport VBM ballots to no more than 10 voters.
Of the 309 ballots delivered to voters by authorized messengers, a total of 251 ballots were obtained by applications on which a candidate or campaign official of the A-Team slate is listed as an assistor. An additional 28 messenger VBM ballots were requested by voters with no assistors on their applications. Another individual named Anna Bernard assisted on four VBM messenger ballot applications. The remaining 26 VBM messenger ballot applications were not provided for inspection.
The A-Team assistors and the number of applications they assisted with are as follows: mayoral candidate Remond Palmer with 65, board of education candidate Arva Council with 63, incumbent board of education member and candidate Felicia Simmons with 21, incumbent board of education member and council candidate Kenneth Saunders with nine, board of education candidate Stephen Williams with five, and Kaline Videau, who is listed as treasurer of Palmer’s mayoral campaign with 56. A-Team campaign worker Darryl Hammary is listed as an assistor on 25 of the VBM ballot applications and another campaign worker, Shante James, is listed on seven.
“Yes, we are trying to get people to participate in the upcoming election, whether it be by vote-by-mail ballots or encouraging them to go out to the polls,” Palmer told the Sun Wednesday.
The Asbury Together slate is not obtaining messenger VBM ballots, according to Councilman John Moor, who is the Asbury Together ticket’s candidate for Mayor.
Heather Jensen, wife of incumbent council candidate Amy Quinn of the Asbury Together ticket, is listed as an assistor on one VBM ballot application. There was no messenger requested by that voter.
The use of messenger ballots was controversial in the 2013 city council election with an investigation by the Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office culminating in the execution of a search warrant at the headquarters of the A-Team slate that year. Two candidates from that prior A-Team ticket — Palmer and council candidate Duanne Small — are running again under the A-Team banner.
Last month, Prosecutor’s Office spokesman Webster confirmed that the investigation of the 2013 election had been closed with no charges filed.
All five city council seats are up for grabs in the November 4 election due to a change of government referendum approved by voters last November, which cut short the terms of all five seated council members sworn in July 1, 2013. It is the first time in the city’s history the voting public will directly elect their mayor. Three seats on the Asbury Park Board of Education are also being contested.
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