Long Branch Board Of Education, Eatontown Race Can't Be Called

LONG BRANCH, NJ — By Wednesday afternoon, the Democratic challengers have the lead in the Eatontown town council race and incumbents Youngblood Brown, Perez and Zambrano lead in the Long Branch Board of Education race.

However, there are still 150,000 to 200,000 outstanding votes that still have to be counted, County Clerk Christine Hanlon confirmed to Patch.

So it is too early to establish a winner in essentially any race in Monmouth County.

Currently, about 56 percent of Monmouth County's mail-in ballots have been counted. What hasn't been counted yet? Mail-in ballots cast on election day, late mail-in ballots, machine votes and provisional ballots, said the county clerk on MonmouthCountyVotes.com.

Long Branch BOE results as of Wednesday afternoon:

Tasha YOUNGBLOOD BROWN 2,159 votes 21.96%

Lucille PEREZ 2,432 votes 24.74%

Armand R. ZAMBRANO, Jr. 2,183 votes, 22.21%

Kristopher SOTO 1,271 votes, 12.93%

Joseph M. FERRAINA 1,727 votes 17.57%

Eatontown Town Council:

Mark REGAN, Jr. Republican, current councilman 1,473 votes, 22.98%

James M. CORCORAN, Republican, current councilman 1,424 votes, 22.21%

Danielle M. JONES, Democrat, challenger 1,756 votes 27.39%

Mariel S. HUFNAGEL, Democrat, challenger 1,738 votes 27.11%

With so many Monmouth votes still not counted, it's also impossible to tell who won the Freeholder race, and whether Trump or Biden won Monmouth.

The returns so far show Biden leading in Monmouth County, and the Democrats Michael Penna and Moira Nelson leading the county Freeholder race, over Republican incumbents Lillian Burry and Ross Licitra.

What is the reason for all the outstanding ballots?

Due to COVID, Gov. Murphy changed how the election was done this year: Machine voting was essentially forbidden except for those with disabilities, and so most New Jersey residents had little choice but to vote by mail.

The state also extended the deadlines for how late ballots could be mailed back: If you mailed your ballot back on Election Day, it still has to be counted. The state allowed voters to have their ballots postmarked by Nov. 3 and received as late as Nov. 10, a full seven days after Election Day.

If you voted by paper ballot (provisional) at the polls Tuesday, that vote also will not be counted until Nov. 10 — at the earliest.

That's because the county has to count all the mail-in ballots first, which remember, can be received up to Nov. 10.

"We have to wait to make sure voters haven't returned the mail-in ballot first," explained Clerk Hanlon, Republican, who herself is up for re-election and is currently ahead with votes.

Across New Jersey, county clerks have to wait for all the mail-in votes to come by back by Nov. 10, and then cross check to make sure someone did not vote twice, such as voting at the ballot box and also by mail-in.

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