Asbury Park

Computer glitch stalls official election vote count

vote-by-mail ballots were temporarily removed from count

By Michelle Gladden
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A glitch in Tuesday night’s Board of Education election tallies returned votes to a previously reported count.

While the votes still show Angela Ahbez-Anderson as the front runner, it shows Kenneth E. Saunders Jr. as the second highest vote getter and incumbent Barbara Lesinski just 9 votes over fourth place vote getter, newcomer Sheila Etienne.

Saunders, current Vice President Christian Hall and newcomer Etienne ran as a team. They were opposed by former Board of Education member Ahbez-Anderson, Lesinski and former Asbury Park School District educator Peter Cheney.

“Dominion Voting Systems, the County’s election software vendor, was on site to oversee the tally of the 2015 general election results,” Monmouth County Clerk Christine G. Hanlon said in a written statement. “Dominion appears to have deleted the vote-by-mail results from the tally at the end of the night for some unknown reason.”

This means Lesinski’s seat could be in jeopardy if enough provisional ballots were cast in Etienne’s favor.

It was unclear how many provisional votes were cast. Provisional ballots are for a voter whose eligibility to vote is unclear. If the Monmouth County Board of Elections determines a voter is eligible, their provisional ballot is opened.

Election’s Board spokeswoman Laura Kirkpatrick said approximately 700 provisional ballots need to vetted and opened.

“There are a number of close races,” Kirkpatrick said. “There is a process to go through.”

The Monmouth County Board of Elections office will open and count the provisional ballots on Monday, she said.

Hanlon said, all election night results are still considered unofficial until after the provisional ballots are counted and the election results are certified.

“Our problems with Dominion have become chronic and will not be tolerated,” Hanlon said. “We are continuing to investigate the situation and will be holding Dominion fully accountable.

“My apologies to any candidates whose results may have changed due to this error,” she said.

Asbury Park voters chose to split the ticket of the two competing teams seeking to fill the three open Board of Education seats in Tuesday’s election. A total of 3,812 votes were cast, with 9 of them going to write-in candidates.

Below is the current breakdown of the votes, per the county clerk’s website, as of 12:30 p.m. Wednesday:

Angela Anderson                             673 as opposed to 583

Kenneth E. Saunders, Jr.               656 as opposed to 524

Sheila Etienne                                  630 as opposed to 513

Barbara Lesinski                              639 as opposed to 549

Christian Hall                                   614 as opposed to 496

Peter J. Cheney                                591 as opposed to 517

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Nov 04, 2015

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