The vote count for the New Jersey Governor election continues and shows a virtually tied race between incumbent Governor Phil Murphy and Republican challenger Jack Ciattarelli.
Results Wednesday morning show the Democratic governor and Republican challenger less than 1 percentage point apart.
According to nj.com, as of 2 p.m., the race remained still too close to call. Gov. Murphy was Ciattarelli by some 15,200 votes. However, over 150 of the state’s 6,348 voting districts were still missing from the totals, along with thousands of vote-by-mail and uncounted provisional ballots.
Additionally, not all counties have included early election results in the vote tallies that have been reported, nor have some included vote-by-mail counts. Clerks can accept ballots postmarked by Election Day until November 8.
Provisional ballots everywhere, meanwhile, have yet to be counted. Provisional paper ballots are used when a voter whose eligibility to vote cannot be confirmed at the polls or if they have applied for a vote-by-mail ballot. If, after the election, it is determined that the voter who cast the provisional ballot was eligible to vote, only then ballot will be counted.
“To wait a little”
“We’re gonna have to wait a little while longer than we hoped,” Murphy told supporters in Asbury Park in a brief speech. “We’re gonna wait for every vote to be counted. That’s how our democracy works.”
You can read: What you need to know about the New Jersey election
“We’re all sorry that tonight cannot yet be the celebration we wanted it to be,” added the governor, who is seeking a second term in this election. “But when every vote is counted, and every vote will be counted, we hope to have a celebration.”
Meanwhile, Ciattarelli, a former member of the state Assembly, said “we want every legal vote to be counted. I wanted to come out here tonight because I prepared one hell of a victory speech,” he told supporters in Bridgewater. “I wanted to come out here tonight because we won. But I’m here to tell you that we’re winning.”
A recount is hovering
On top of the outstanding ballots, there is an almost certain expectation by both camps to call for a recount. With a close race, it seems almost certain that someone will ask for a recount, election experts said.
But according to Matthew Hale, an associate professor at the political science and public affairs department at Seton Hall University, a close vote by itself is not enough of reason to ask for a recount.
“A statewide recount would probably begin with questions of irregularities in one precinct, town or county. The applicant would have to point to something that allegedly happened in one location that could have reasonably happened in other areas of the state”, Hale said.
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