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The Monmouth County Board of Elections has disqualified 353 vote-by-mail [VBM] ballots in the Asbury Park election.

The Board allowed 340 VBM ballots to be counted, which increased the lead of the Asbury Together ticket. There are still 161 provisional ballots that need to be counted.

Asbury Together has already claimed victory in four of five council seats, and the group expects mayoral candidate John Moor, who holds a decisive lead, to prevail. A run-off election is still possible for December 2.

Of the VBM ballots that were counted, the following votes were added to the candidates for mayor: Moor 159, Remond Palmer of the A-Team 133, incumbent Mayor Myra Campbell 35, Harold Suggs 2.

In the council race, the VBM ballots counted added the following votes to the candidates: Asbury Together’s Amy Quinn 183, Jesse Kendle 177, Joe Woerner 173 and Barbara Clayton 169. The A-Team received the following votes from the VBM ballots that were opened: Small 144, Johnson 141, Saunders 150, Grant 141.

That puts the unofficial tally as follows:

In the Mayor’s race: Moor 1374, Palmer 696, Campbell 344 and Suggs 79. Of the 2493 votes counted, Moor still has over the 50 percent needed to avoid a run-off.

In the council race:

Asbury Together candidates Quinn 1653, Kendle 1592, Joe Woerner 1561 and Barbara Clayton 1546.

The A-Team’s Small at 793 votes, Kevin Saunders, Jr. 772 votes, Rosetta Johnson 721 and Derrick Grant 684.

The Asbury Together ticket challenged over 300 VBM ballots that A-Team candidates and campaign officials helped voters obtain. The ballots were delivered to the voters by a messenger listed on the VBM application.

The initial unofficial results were obtained from City Clerk Steven Kay.

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