---

The lawsuit seeking to count disqualified vote by mail [VBM] ballots from last year’s mayor and council election was dismissed Thursday afternoon by Monmouth County Superior Court Judge Dennis O’Brien, said Mayor John Moor, who represented himself in the case.

“It’s done, it’s over,” Moor said in a telephone interview following the decision. “They started off with no witnesses today and the judge was not too happy. I asked for a dismissal because they were directed to have 77 witnesses and they only presented one.”

The lawsuit, brought by A-Team mayoral candidate Remond Palmer [above left] and A-Team board of education candidate Michele Council [above right] challenged the Monmouth County Board of Election’s decision to disqualify 343 VBM ballots.

Official returns showed Moor defeated Palmer by over 50 percent of the vote in the multi-candidate field, avoiding the need for a run-off election among the two top vote-getter, who were Moor and Palmer.

Palmer sought to have enough votes counted to require a run-off. Council argued that the contested ballots were enough for her to win a board of education seat. The lawsuit was filed on Dec. 18. O’Brien rejected their request that Moor and Carol Jones, who won a board of education seat, not be sworn in until the lawsuit was decided.

Palmer and Council said that the disqualified ballots came from voters who were assisted in voting by their campaign’s get out the vote program, according to their lawsuit.

While the numbers of qualified ballots was reduced throughout the hearing process by either Judge O’Brien or A-Team attorney Aaron Mizrahi, the week started with the expectation of testimony from 77 voters, according to Moor.

By Tuesday, Moor said five witnesses were called but only one of them was a voter: three people testified to their handling of the ballots as messengers, one testified as an assistor, and the one voter witness’ ballot was thrown out by the judge.

When today started with no witnesses, Moor said the judge warned that the burden of proof remained on the petitioner.

“The numbers weren’t there,” Moor said. “No matter what, it’s over. It takes the air of uncertainty away and makes it a little bit easier to govern without this hanging over our heads.”

A-Team attorney Mizrahi was not able to immediately be reached for comment.

———————————–

Follow the Asbury Park Sun on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

---