Vote recount possible in school board election
Rafano, Turner-Smith finish six votes apart in South River
BY MICHAEL ACKER
Staff Writer

Shenetta Turner-Smith

SOUTH RIVER - For the second consecutive election in the borough, a candidate who lost by a narrow margin is expected to call for a recount.

Board of Education candidate Shenetta Turner-Smith said she intends to request a recount after county election officials declared that she was edged out of one of three available seats by just six votes. Middlesex County Clerk Elaine M. Flynn told the Sentinel that the third-place vote-getter, Donna Rafano, received 654 votes, while Turner-Smith garnered 648 votes.

All of the ballots were opened in public, and the election results were certified on Monday, Flynn said.

All paper votes are currently impounded and the machines still have the numbers logged on them, as is standard after all elections.

"It is incumbent upon the people questioning the results to go to court to get a court order," Flynn said.

The initial tally had Rafano ahead of Turner-Smith by five votes. A provisional ballot added another vote for Rafano, as well as for Sharon Mulvihill and Cynthia Urbanik.

Board incumbent Rick Rosenberg Jr. won re-election and was the lead vote-getter with 707 votes, followed by Urbanik, who was re-elected with 695 votes. Rafano and Turner-Smith were third and fourth, and Mulvihill, an incumbent, was fifth with 500 votes.

"There is probably going to be a recount," said Rosenberg, who campaigned with Turner-Smith and Urbanik. "I have been helping [Turner-Smith] out a little bit, as far as discovering votes that I believe should be counted."

Rosenberg said he and Turner-Smith want to make sure that the election results are accurate.

"We'll be satisfied after the process is over," he said.

There are discrepancies with the number of provisional ballots, Rosenberg said, adding that the candidates are not claiming that anything was done unethically or fraudulently.

"We are not challenging the ethics of the [Middlesex County] Board of Elections," Rosenberg said. "They have been very helpful."

County Election Board Administrator Jim Vokral said there were originally six provisional ballots, but one was voided immediately, and that voter was able to vote by machine.

"Of the five [remaining provisional ballots], when checked for the registration and completeness of the form, four of them dropped, leaving one read," Vokral said.

The four voters whose provisional ballots were dropped were not registered in the county's system, he said. The provisional ballot that was not dropped or voided was counted, despite the resident's address information still being in East Brunswick. Vokral said the election board confirmed that this voter is a resident of South River.

Rafano, who was sworn in to her board seat Tuesday by Assemblyman Patrick Diegnan, said that Turner-Smith has the right to call for a recount.

"I think that she is certainly entitled to do a recount," Rafano said.

"I hope that when it is all said and done, we can move on," she added. "It shouldn't be about us, it should be about the children."

Turner-Smith has not officially called for a recount yet, but she said she intends to do so since the margin is so close between the two candidates.

"I just want to make sure that each vote that was cast is accurately accounted for," Turner-Smith said.

If there is a recount, it would be the second in six months for South River.

In November, two opposing candidates, Anthony Razzano and Michael Trenga, came within a vote of each other for a seat on the Borough Council. A recount affirmed Razzano's one-vote margin of victory.