Atlantic Highlands Elections-Questions Remain
Council President Lori Hohenleitner will be sworn in as Mayor at the reorganization meeting January 1. But it will be up to a Monmouth County Superior Court Judge to determine whether she will serve the four-year term to which she was elected in November.
The Monmouth County Board of Elections confirmed today that an election contest has been filed and is going to Superior Court to determine the accuracy and validity of several ballots in the election in which a recount had Hohenleitner winning the election by five votes over Councilman James Murphy.
“It’s all about integrity and ensuring the people in a democracy know their vote is important,” said Murphy, in confirming action has been filed questioning a number of signatures on write-in ballots as well as ballots that appear to be from non-residents but were counted.
Nor is this the first time this appears to have happened, Murphy said, referring to further questioning of ballots cast in 2021 which appear to be from residents who at the time did not live in the borough. “It appears to be a similar pattern and there are similar names being questioned in both elections,” he said.
The councilman, who has made it a part of his campaign to note he is a native of the borough and a third-generation resident, raising his children in the same town where he was raised, said that while he would hope to be the victor, this is not the primary reason for taking the contest action.
“This is all about integrity and voting in a democracy,” he said, “people need to be confident their vote is counted, is accurate, and the entire voting process is as it should be in the United States, in a democracy.”
Hohenleitner and Murphy both currently serve on council, and both ran for the position of Mayor. Current Mayor Loretta Gluckstein did not seek re-election. Hohenleitner, who term on council expires this month, ran for the mayoral position with incumbent Jon Crowley, seeking another term, and newcomer Alyson Forbes.
Murphy, who still has one more year to run in his council election two years ago, ran for mayor with Ellen O’Dwyer and Vincent Whitehead seeking the two council seats. Crowley and Forbes appear to have won both seats, though O’Dwyer also only lost by a few votes.
Should Hohenleitner not be successful in retaining the mayoral post, she will no longer be part of the governing body, since her term expires this year. Should Murphy be seated as mayor, the new governing body would then appoint another Republican to fill the one-year unexpired term on council.
Murphy confirmed there appear to be ‘questionable’ signatures on write-in ballots, and at least one case where a write-in ballot for him was not counted. There seem to be names of voters who lived, but no longer live in the borough but voted by mail, and in other cases, votes cast by people who may have an Atlantic Highlands zip code but do not live in the borough. With questions like these, the election had to be questioned, he said, “purely for voter integrity and democracy.”
Murphy noted the Republicans, with the financial aid of the Monmouth County Republican committee, had filed for a recount last month when the polls showed he lost the election by four votes. The recount conducted in Freehold showed an additional vote for Hohenleitner, giving him a loss by five votes.
The councilman conceded that both the recount and the current action are costing money, and the local GOP is seeking donations at this time, but “it is about integrity, and it has to be done.”
“All I care about is that the election is run right, and every vote is counted how and where it should be,” the councilman continued, “It is important for every voter to feel confident and comfortable that his vote is counted. It is integrity that matters.”
According to the Monmouth County Board of Elections, the election contest goes before a County Superior Court Judge and what happens after that cannot be determined until his decision is made. Since the matter would definitely not be heard and decided before the January 1 planned reorganization, Hohenleitner will be sworn in as mayor. After that, according to a spokesman for the election board, “it depends on what the judge decides. There are a lot of moving parts here.” There are residency issues as well as “all kinds of other things.”
When contacted by VeniVidiScritpto, Councilwoman Hohenleitner said ” I have faith in the system. I just want to what is best for Atlantic Highlands, I feel sorry that the poll workers and the administrators who run the voting process are being questioned; I will just continue to move forward and see what happens, our small town needs to come together”
