By Philip Sean Curran
Staff Writer
Cranbury Township Committeeman Jay Taylor said on Nov.7 that he is “confident” that he won a fourth term on Election Day, although the winner of the second Committee seat is too close to call.
Taylor, a Democrat, recorded 1,055 votes, according to the Middlesex County Clerk’s Office. He was followed by Republican Wayne Wittman, who received 1,013 votes, and Democrat Township Committeeman Michael Ferrante, who picked up 1,009.
But there is some confusion about those totals.
The Middlesex County Clerk’s Office reported on Nov. 7 that the numbers reflect the votes that came out of voting machines on Election Day and did not include votes from mail-in ballots.
According to the township, the figures from the machines had Wittman with 840 votes, Taylor with 818 and Ferrante with 767.
Taylor and Ferrante said on Nov. 7 that some mail-in votes had been counted. A recent change in state law allows mail-in votes postmarked by Nov. 6 to be counted as long as they are received by the county Board of Elections no more than 48 hours from the time of the polls closing.
It was not immediately known how many mail-in votes remain uncounted.
“But I’m not anticipating that there’s going to be a whole lot of ballots coming in over the next two days,” Taylor said.
He said he did not expect a dramatic vote swing to enable Wittman or Ferrante to leapfrog him.
“It’s possible that there could be a seesaw back and forth between Wayne and Mike,” Taylor said. “Four votes is not a big margin.”
In a related issue, the Middlesex County Board of Elections said on Nov. 7 that provisional ballots would not be counted until Nov.13. Ferrante said on Nov. 7 there are 89 of them, based on what officials told campaign workers.
“We’ll see what happens,” Wittman said on Nov.7.
“It’s a wild ride,” Ferrante said.
For his part, Taylor was looking to become mayor in 2019, and promised to lead with “bipartisanship” with “all Township Committee members having valuable roles.”
