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Three of the four tickets in the Asbury Park council race have denied affiliation with 42 people who are acting as ballot messengers in the election.

Campaign managers for the AP Out Front, Forward Asbury Park and One Asbury tickets have said their candidates are not using volunteers or paying workers to deliver messenger ballots to voters. Voters may designate a messenger to bring them a ballot to complete, which can then be mailed or hand-delivered back to election offices for tabulation.

The remaining slate, the A-Team, has paid 10 campaign workers to act as messengers, compensating them $100 per person for gathering 10 messenger ballots each, candidate Duanne Small has confirmed.

Two more of the people listed as messengers, Knowryl Hammary and Byron Hall, are named as chair person and treasurer, respectively, for all five A-Team candidates’ personal campaign accounts.

The A-Team candidates refuse to disclose whether any of the remaining 30 messengers are affiliated with their campaign. The A-Team candidates are Duanne Small, Jim Keady, Nora Hyland, Remond Palmer and Daniel Harris.

Following allegations of mishandling of ballots from the campaign manager of the AP Out Front ticket, County Clerk M. Claire French decided to require all messengers to sign affidavits affirming that they understand that breaking the rules governing the messenger ballot process is a third-degree crime.

French mailed the affidavits to all messengers on April 17.

The Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office is now investigating the ballot process in the city as well, French said.

The Asbury Park Sun sent A-Team campaign manager John Napolitani a list of questions regarding the use of messengers by the A-Team campaign. The Sun asked about messengers’ affiliation with the campaign, whether more messengers were paid, and how the group has ensured that ballots are delivered directly to voters as required.

The candidates chose not to respond to the questions, Napolitani said, and instead issued the following statement on behalf of all five candidates:

The A-Team is following all applicable election laws and guidelines as outlined by the County Clerk’s office. We are committed to ensuring that the citizens of Asbury Park have a free and fair election.

Reached by phone on Tuesday, A-Team candidate Duanne Small reiterated the group’s statement, and added that he and his running mates are “working closely with the County Clerk to resolve issues.” He said he does not know who the campaign’s designated messengers are, and he does not know who is in charge of his campaign’s messengers.

“Whatever the county requires, that’s what we will abide by,” he said.

Two more messengers signed their affidavits since last week, according to records in the election offices of the County Clerk. Those messengers are Jaisun Lewinski and Pamela S. Gideon. Thirty-five of the 42 messengers still have not returned their affidavits.

Since the affidavit requirement was put in place, no new messengers have stepped up to request ballots, according to the election offices, although some existing messengers have requested additional ballots.

If messengers do not return their affidavits, the Prosecutor’s Office will “follow up” with the voters who designated those messengers, French said.

In total, 336 messenger ballots were taken by messengers to give to voters, according to records in the election offices. As of Tuesday, ninety-six of those ballots have been returned to the offices by voters to be opened and tabulated on Election Day, leaving 240 messenger ballots that have yet to be returned.

In the 2009 Asbury Park council election, no voters requested messenger ballots. In that election, the fifth-place winner of the election received only 83 more votes than did the sixth-place candidate, who did not win.

The 42 people may act as messengers for up to 10 voters. Voters can vote by messenger ballot by filling out a vote-by-mail [VBM] ballot application and designating a messenger, as well as an assistor if applicable. The messenger can bring the VBM application to the county clerk’s office in Freehold, and receive a messenger ballot in return. The messenger must then go directly to the voter and give him or her the ballot.

From there, the voter can either mail the ballot to the county clerk’s office or designate a bearer to bring the ballot back.

Election Day is May 14. Twenty-two candidates are vying for all five council seats in this nonpartisan election. Terms are four years long, with the current council’s terms ending on June 30. New terms begin on July 1.

STATEMENTS FROM OTHER TICKETS

The remaining tickets’ campaign managers say they have no affiliation with any of the 42 people named as messengers.

The messengers “are not affiliated with AP Out Front at all, under any circumstances,” said AP Out Front campaign manager Stephania Warren. Warren wrote two letters to the County Clerk’s Office alleging the mishandling of messenger ballots earlier this month.

The AP Out Front candidates are Clevette Hill, Rosetta Johnson, Shonna Famularo, Dorvil Gilles and Stephen Williams.

Jocelyn Toledo, the campaign manager for the incumbent-led Forward Asbury Park team, said she does not know of any of the messengers, and none of them have signed in at any of the Forward Asbury Park team’s campaign events.

The Forward Asbury Park candidates are Deputy Mayor John M. Loffredo, Councilwoman Sue Henderson, Councilman Kevin Sanders, BOE member Gregory Hopson and Will Potter.

Meredith DeMarco, campaign manager of One Asbury, said her campaign has not paid any messengers or authorized any messengers to work on behalf of the One Asbury campaign.

Running on the One Asbury ticket are Amy Quinn, Myra Campbell, Talesha Crank, John Moor and Joe Woerner.

Independent candidate Randy Thompson also said he has not designated any workers or volunteers to act as messengers. Independent candidate Harold V. Suggs could not be reached.

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