Dalina seeks recount due to 31-vote margin

With vote tallies indicating that he lost by a margin of less than 1 percent, Monroe Township Council candidate Stephen Dalina has filed for a recount of votes in the Ward 3 election.

Reports show Dalina, a Democrat making his first run for council, with 2,038 votes, just 31 short of Republican Michael Leibowitz's 2,069 votes.

Unless the recount reverses the outcome, Leibowitz would be the first Republican elected to the Monroe governing body in 24 years.

Leibowitz, 66, or Dalina, 42, will serve a four-year term on an otherwise all-Democrat council that includes Henry Miller and Gerald Tamburro, who were re-elected Nov. 3 in Wards 1 and 2, respectively, and council members at-large Irwin Nalitt and Leslie Koppel-Egierd. Mayor Richard Pucci is also a Democrat.

According to James Vokral, Middlesex County Board of Elections administrator, the paperwork has been submitted for a recount, and a hearing to show cause is scheduled for Dec. 3 in state Superior Court. Vokral said the judge will likely rule in favor of Dalina's request, and in that case, Vokral will work with election commissioners and staff as well as both candidates to set up a mutually agreeable date for the recount. The voting machines will be rechecked against the certified information, and mail-in and provisional ballots will be recounted, he said.

For Leibowitz, who previously served on the council from 1980 to 1984, the course of events feels very familiar.

"Thirty years ago I won by a small margin, and the Monroe Democrats requested a recount, and I won. Like Yogi [Berra] said, 'It's déjà vu all over again,' " he said.

The recount calls for a check of all votes in Ward 3 but also seeks a recount in District 1 of Ward 2, since Dalina believes the counting of ballots in that district may affect the outcome of the Ward 3 race.

Leibowitz questioned why such concerns have come to light if they were never raised in past years when Democrats won the elections. He noted that after each U.S. Census, the township has realigned the voting districts.

"Mayor Pucci and the all-Democratic council [members] have controlled this process after the 1990 and the 2000 censuses. The wards and districts were gerrymandered according to their design, and the results were never questioned by them during the past 20 years," Leibowitz said. "Why now, when the voters disagree with them, are they attempting to gerrymander Wards 2 and 3? What are they afraid of?"

Pucci said it is common to ask for a recount when the vote is this close. He added that the decision came from Dalina, and not the Democratic Party.

"Candidates should do it to have their conscience at ease," Pucci said.

When asked about Leibowitz's comments on the voting districts, Pucci said that every 10 years the chairs of both political parties meet with the county clerk, review district boundary lines and decide together on any changes.

As for the accusation of "gerrymandering," Pucci said this was a unique situation. He said that Dalina lives in Ward 3, District 9, and as he began campaigning and reviewed canvassing sheets, he realized there were people on his street who were not eligible to vote in Ward 3 and had to vote in Ward 2, District 1. County Clerk Elaine Flynn was advised of the discrepancy, and officials believe it was an error that affected about 90 eligible voters who should have been voting in Ward 3, according to Pucci. The township clerk sent a letter prior to Election Day notifying those voters that they should vote in Ward 3, District 9, he said.

Dalina deferred comment to his attorney, Daniel Zwillenberg of the law firm De- Cotiis, FitzPatrick, Cole & Wisler. Zwillenberg said he was retained by Dalina to represent him in the requested recount of the paper ballots and recheck of the voting machines.

"A recount and recheck are recommended anytime the result is as close as it was here, the goal being to ensure that no voter is disenfranchised and that every validly cast vote is counted," Zwillenberg said.

In the petition for recount, Zwillenberg states that Dalina "is a popular member of the Monroe Township community," which he said is evident in the small number of votes separating him from the declared winner.

"He has reason to believe that more votes were cast for him, but an error in counting the vote or declaring the vote has deprived him of his office and has deprived the voters of their choice," according to the legal documents filed by Zwillenberg. "The purpose of the recount is to protect the integrity of the ballot and ensure that the election effectuates the will of the people."

Copies of the petition for recount and supporting documents were served on the Board of Elections, county clerk, Monroe municipal clerk and the candidates on Nov. 17. Zwillenberg said the court will now set the schedule for any further proceedings.

Leibowitz said he has never been a threat to the Democrats, and that at the council meeting the night after the election, the council members all seemed eager to work together.

"I assumed then that that meant they feel comfortable with me. What has changed?" Leibowitz asked. "I am ready to serve. I have been elected to serve. It is time to bend to the will of the voters, not to the party bosses' demands."