John Curley

Amy Mallet

Monmouth County Republican Freeholder candidate John Curley just called Amy Mallet to congratulate her on her victory, he told PolitickerNJ.com.

“Having won the votes cast in the voting machines, I have fallen short in provisional and absentee ballots,” said Curley, a former Red Bank councilman who now lives in Middletown.

He also congratulate failed Democratic candidate Glenn Mason and his own running mate, Freeholder Director Lillian Burry, who won re-election on Nov. 4th, praising her as an “honest, capable and hard-working friend.”

“I was honored to carry the banner for the Republican Party, and I thank everybody for their commitment and energy on my behalf - you have buoyed my belief in a great place we call home,”  said the candidate.

Not so fast, says John Curley of Middletown Township.

The GOP’s Monmouth County Freeholder candidate convenes with fellow party members and attorneys this morning to determine if he should contest the results of his close race with Democrat Amy Mallet.

“There has been so much that’s transpired in this election,” says Curley. “We’re going to get some hard evidence and based on that either proceed, or concede.”

Following the provisional ballot count yesterday at the Board of elections office, Mallet unofficially defeated Curley by 343 votes.

Although counting didn’t finish until after 6 p.m. Tuesday, Curley says he climbed into his car at 4:30 p.m. only to hear a radio news report announcing Mallet’s victory.

Democratic operative Michael Mangan rejoices with Mallet's win.

FREEHOLD - It’s over in Monmouth County.

They're getting final number here, to be certified on Thursday, but barring a recount, Amy Mallet of Fair Haven has defeated John Curley of Middletown in the race for a seat on the Monmouth County Freeholder Board, swinging county control to the Democrats, 3-2.

The final provisional vote tally shows Mallet winning, 964 votes to 654 votes for Curley, extending by 310 her Election Day lead of 18 votes. This tally does not include email and ID-pending votes, which are fewer than 100 and imminent.

"Over the last four years, the Democratic Party has gotten its message of change through to the voters that 23 years of Republican control are enough," says Monmouth County Democratic Party Director Michael Mangan. 

With 328 votes deciding a race in which voters cast over 270,000 countywide, the GOP doesn't give up - not yet.

"We're going to look at the numbers and we're going to speak with John (Curley) and our attorneys and make a decision sometime tomorrow," says county GOP spokesman Mark Duffy.

On Tuesday, it proves a long afternoon of provisional ballot counting that drags into the early evening. The Board of Elections reps slog through the hand count votes in each town.

The Board of Elections and Democratic and Republican Party operatives run down the provisional ballots, town by town, voter by voter.

FREEHOLD –  The vote stands at 694 provisional ballots for Amy Mallet and 476 for John Curley – not including hand counts - with the count for Manalapan ongoing and Marlboro and Long Branch left to go.

That puts the Fair Haven candidate for Monmouth County Freeholder in a position to win the election, as Long Branch is heavily Democratic and Mallet scored well in Manalapan and Marlboro in the regular vote count.

Prior to the provisionals process, Mallet led Curley by 18 votes overall: 135,688 to 135,670, in this county of 53 towns.  If Mallet defeats Curley, county control of this longtime Republican stronghold will favor the Democrats by 3-2.

Now on the tattered, unresolved edge of the Nov. 4th election, operatives from both parties sit with two Board of Elections reps from each party and a representative from the state attorney general's office at a long table. They all pour town by town over the provisional ballots.

Sources say Democratic Monmouth County Freeholder candidate Amy Mallet leads Republican candidate John Curley, 274 to 151 votes as of late yesterday.  

That puts Mallet up by 141 votes at the conclusion of yesterday’s Board of Elections provisional ballot count. 

A clerk of elections spokesperson said the counting should be finished sometime this afternoon. If Mallet wins the race, control of the Freeholder Board would shift to the Democrats, 3-2.

The Superintendent of Elections has determined that there are 3,793 provisional ballots pertaining to the Monmouth County Freeholders’ race that the Board of Elections will assess next week, beginning at 9 a.m. on Monday, Nov. 17.

Right now, Democratic candidate Amy Mallet leads Republican candidate John Curley by 18 votes, 135,688 to 135,670, according to the County Clerk’s Office.

FREEHOLD - A Deputy Attorney General is in the Monmouth County Clerk's Office observing as Superintendent of Elections workers at 5 p.m. again began tallying provisional ballots.

Democratic Party representive Michael Mangan and Republican Party representative Rosanne Scotti also stand in the room with the attorney general's office representive and the elections workers.

"All of the material they inventory will go to the Board of Elections where two Republicans and two Democrats will count all of the provisional ballots," said County Clerk Claire French. 

The process could take up to two weeks, according to French.

FREEHOLD – A squat drab building on the side of a highway could describe a lot of places in New Jersey, but this one warrants a double take because a state trooper stands out front, and operatives come and go, frantically talking on their cellphones in the rain.

It’s two days after Election Day, but there remains a political war going on in Monmouth and here at the Clerk’s Office on Halls-Mill Road represents ground zero.

In a fight to secure a second seat on the Freeholder Board, Democratic candidate Amy Mallet leads Republican candidate John Curley by 18 votes, 135,688 to 135,670 as representatives from both parties jockey in the background for position in case a legal challenge goes down.

With 99% of the vote counted, Democrats narrowly lead in their bid to win control of the Monmouth County Board of Freeholders with Amy Mallet leading John Curley by 26 votes, 135,337 to 135,311. Republican incumbent Lillian Burry (136,521) is the top vote-getter, and Democrat Glenn Mason (127,367) is running 4th.

In the contentious race for two seats on the Monmouth County Freeholder Board, the Democrats have mostly trained their sights on incumbent Republican Freeholder Director Lillian Burry, but today they went after her running mate, former Red Bank Councilman John Curley.

The mailer Democrats sent to voters accuses the former Republican councilman of dereliction of duty in his post on the council, which, Democrats said, eventually sparked the rest of the governing body to fire him.

As chairman of the local finance committee, “he failed to supervise the chief financial officer, causing overspending of $400,000,” reads the flyer, which also charges  that Curley voted to increase property taxes during each of his years in office.