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The top five vote-getters in yesterday’s election expressed cautious excitement last night, celebrating their apparent victory but also remaining aware that if disputed ballots are eventually counted, some may not find themselves in office.

“The ink still hasn’t dried, but I feel good,” said Myra Campbell [pictured above, left], who is currently in fifth place with 598 votes. “I’m very happy and proud that our team did as well as it did.”

Two of Campbell’s One Asbury running mates, John Moor [pictured above, center] and Amy Quinn [pictured above, right], garnered 699 and 693 votes, respectively and also made it into the top five. The ticket’s other two candidates, Talesha Crank and Joe Woerner, didn’t make it onto the dais according to last night’s unofficial results.

Incumbent council members John M. Loffredo and Sue Henderson [pictured at right] also have made it into the top five according to last night’s count, garnering 640 and 608 votes respectively.

“We’ll see what’s going to happen,” Loffredo said of the election results.

The Monmouth County Board of Elections has reportedly set aside about 332 vote-by-mail ballots which have not been tabulated, and A-Team candidate Jim Keady has said his ticket may take legal action regarding those ballots.

His ticket, which also includes Duanne Small, Nora Hyland, Daniel Harris and Remond Palmer, oversaw a massive messenger-ballot operation. The Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office searched their headquarters as part of an investigation into the handling of messenger ballots in the city this month.

In addition to the 332 vote-by-mail or messenger ballots, the approximately 170 provisional ballots cast during yesterday’s election will likely not be tabulated until about Friday. The tabulation of these ballots could change the results of the race.

But last night, the current winners were celebrating as the numbers came in.

Campbell said she looks forward to working with the other winners despite her past differences with incumbent council members.

“We’re up there not for ourselves, but for the good of the city,” she said. “It’s a necessity [to work together] so there’s no doubt in my mind that it will happen.”

She would spend her first days in office identifying important priorities and creating a 90-day plan with benchmarks, she said.

Campbell credited One Asbury’s political philosophy as well as the group’s campaign manager, Meredith DeMarco, with leading them to victory.

“Had it not been for her, we would not have gotten done as much as we did,” she said. “She kept us focused and targeted.”

Moor, the top vote-getter thus far, said he regretted that his ticket hadn’t swept the election, adding that running mate Woerner is “the hardest worker I’ve ever seen in my life.”

Moor is excited to return to City Hall. He retired from a post with the city in 2011. Moor has also clashed with incumbents during public comment at council meetings, but said that won’t stop him from getting down to business.

“I can work together with anybody and I have worked together with everybody, so I don’t see that to be a hindrance whatsoever,” he said.

Moor would like to form committees for citizens to help with things like the city budget and recreation department, he said.

“There is so much talent in this town that has not been tapped, it’s a sin,” he said. “We’re going to try to tap that talent and make the city as great as it can be.”

Moor said being the top vote-getter is “neat, but it’s not the end of the world.” He hopes everyone who ran for election will stay involved regardless of whether they win or lose, and that they would all have “an open invitation to come to the table” in the new administration.

Loffredo is happy to be reelected, he said, though he noted that these results are not set in stone. He feels he can get along with the other winners, as well.

“I do like the other people who have been elected so far,” Loffredo said. He added that he “of course” wishes that his and Henderson’s other running mates, Will Potter, Gregory Hopson Sr. and fellow incumbent Kevin Sanders, could have gotten into the top five as well.

But the others who were elected are “people I know I can work with,” Loffredo said. “I’d like to continue to focus on redevelopment, Springwood Avenue and recreation.”

Loffredo believes his ticket has seen success because of their accomplishments, and because they “told the truth.”

“Look, our record stands for itself,” he said. “We did what we did. Our administration has been an open book.”

Jim Keady, an A-Team candidate who came away with 409 votes, was the highest vote-getter on his own ticket but did not garner enough votes to make it into the top five according to the unofficial results. Provisional and vote-by-mail ballot counts could change that. Keady and his team have consulted with attorney John Bennett, who is also the chairman of the Monmouth County Republican Committee.

In the meantime, Keady is congratulating the five who are in the lead.

“I think it takes a lot of guts to run for office,” he said. “It’s a massive sacrifice. Anybody who wants to serve deserves to be congratulated just for that.”

He is unsure how the current top-five would handle “the issues that myself and my teammates are most passionate about,” like crime and job creation, he said, but his group feels they had a lot in common with the One Asbury team.

“I think everyone who ran will want to stay involved in some way,” he said. “There’s plenty of work to be done to make Asbury Park a great place to live.”

The unofficial election results are posted below:

Councilmembers-At-Large Asbury Park City

9/9 100.00%

	Vote Count	Percent
– Susan Henderson	608	7.20%
– John M. Loffredo	640	7.58%
– Kevin Sanders	574	6.79%
– Gregory Hopson, Sr.	428	5.07%
– William D. Potter	434	5.14%
– Amy Quinn	693	8.20%
– Myra L. Campbell	598	7.08%
– Joe Woerner	566	6.70%
– John B. Moor	699	8.27%
– Talesha A. Crank	441	5.22%
– Randy Thompson	139	1.65%
– Harold V. Suggs	48	0.57%
– Remond Palmer	381	4.51%
– Duanne ‘King’ Small	405	4.79%
– Nora Hyland	359	4.25%
– Daniel Harris	388	4.59%
– James Keady	409	4.84%
– Rosetta ‘Ella’ Johnson	158	1.87%
– Stephen ‘Steve’ Williams	144	1.70%
– Clevette ‘Rasul’ Hill	112	1.33%
– Shonna ‘Walker’ Famularo	123	1.46%
– Dorvil ‘Gregory’ Gilles	97	1.15%
Write-In	4	0.05%
Total	8,448	100.00%

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