NJ Superior Court Judge Orders Recount In Atlantic City Election

More than two months after the Tuesday, June 6, 2023 Atlantic City, New Jersey Primary Election, a winner in the 2nd Ward City Council race still remains undecided.

Incumbent Atlantic City Councilwoman LaToya Dunston currently leads challenger Viana Bailey by a scant three votes, 300 to 297.

This race matters to Atlantic City Mayor Marty Small … who pulled out all of the stops to beat Dunston … as she has regularly opposed The Small agenda.

Small led a scheme to have Dunston removed from the Regular Democrat Column A placement on the ballot, which was awarded by Atlantic County Democratic Chairman Michael Suleiman to Bailey.

This gave Bailey a huge advantage, as it is very hard to win when you're placed in a disadvantageous position on the election ballot.

Small has personally taken control of Bailey’s election contest phase, procuring her attorney and aggressively attempting to swing the election in Bailey’s favor.

Small has lost the majority support of the Atlantic City Council and he is desperately trying to get it back.

New Jersey Superior Court Assignment Judge Michael Blee has ordered a recount because of the razor thin margin that separates the two candidates.

Blee has set the recount for Friday, August 18, 2023.

Blee is also addressing the issue of the tight window of time with regards to contesting elections and tte deadline to print the General Election ballot.

This could have been a big problem in the May, 2023 Margate City Commission election.

The three winners were actually sworn into office before the election results were certified at the County level.

Had this election vote total been closer, it would have been a major problem.

The New Jersey Legislature must address these issues, because changes in the timing of voting and how long after the election legal votes can be accepted is a potential problem just waiting to happen.

Regarding the Atlantic City 2nd Ward election, Dunston declared victory on June 22, 2023, when all of the machine votes, along with early voting and provisional ballots were counted and she led by 3 votes.

There is also a “cure letter" process that is available if a vote was attempted .. however, rejected for certain reasons that can sometimes be corrected after the fact.