ELECTION RECOUNT REAFFIRMS CHOI'S VICTORY IN EDISON

Challenge continues
Home News Tribune Online 12/1/05
By JERRY BARCA
EDISON ? Jun Choi is still mayor-elect after yesterday's recount, but the election challenge may continue.

"We're still not ready to concede," said William Stephens, Choi's opponent and a former Township Council president.

After yesterday's recount, Choi had gained another vote, giving the 34-year-old first-time candidate for office a 270-vote victory.

"This reaffirms the choice Edison voters made on Nov. 8," Choi said. "I'm ready to move forward."

As of today, Stephens has nine days to challenge the election in Superior Court in New Brunswick, said Assistant State Attorney General Donna Kelly, who oversaw yesterday's recount.

Stephens said he will either concede the election or file the court challenge by Dec. 8.

The 59-year-old said he is going analyze information his camp gathered after spending hours at the Middlesex County Board of Elections checking for irregularities in the books voters sign at the polls on Election Day.

Stephens said 18 of the 80 voting machines in Edison tabulated less votes than the number of signatures found on the roll.

Election officials said voters signing in and then not being able to wait in line to vote could be one reason for the discrepancy.

"You can't jump to conclusions that the machine didn't properly (count the votes)," said Kelly, the assistant attorney general.

Stephens requested the recount by filing a civil action in Superior Court on Nov. 18. On the same day, Superior Court Judge Yolanda Ciccone ordered a Nov. 30 recount and recheck of all voting machines, absentee and provisional ballots.

The Edison mayoral race is one of more than a dozen contests throughout the state facing recounts. But the 269-vote election-night margin is largest gap of any race seeking a recount, Kelly said.

More than 54 percent of Edison's registered voters cast ballots in the mayoral race. After the recount, Choi had collected 12,874 votes, while Stephens grabbed 12,604 votes.

The attention-grabbing race for the top seat in New Jersey's sixth most populous town was the lone mayoral contest in Middlesex County.

Choi took his spot on the political landscape after drubbing three-term Mayor George Spadoro to earn the Democratic nomination in June.

Stephens, a Democrat who ran as an independent, gave up his council seat to break with the party mainstream and run against Spadoro in the 2001 primary. Stephens lost by 862 votes. But for the last four years he has remained in the public eye by being a constant critic of the mayor and council.

The state Attorney General's Office ordered a hand recount of Edison's absentee and provisional ballots yesterday. The order came after Monday's recount of the Milltown council race. Milltown ballots were sent through the county machine for absentee and provisional ballots three times and three different results were reached, Kelly said.

Choi was a no-show at the recount, but Stephens and a handful of his supporters were at the voting machine warehouse in Roosevelt Park to oversee the process.

Choi was represented by Edison Democratic Organization Chairman Thomas Paterniti and five lawyers led by Peter Cammarano, a 28-year-old Hoboken councilman with the firm Genova, Burns & Vernoia.

The recount made no impact on the Edison council race which saw incumbent Democrats Robert Diehl and Anthony Massaro retain their seats and former Councilwoman Antonia Ricigliano, a Democrat running as an independent on Stephens' ticket, regain her spot.