TOWNSHIP OF WASHINGTON—Following the count of provisional ballots Nov. 15, the final vote tallies for mayor showed first-term Mayor Peter Calamari, a Republican, beating back a strong challenge from Independent councilman Michael DeSena, 1,846 votes to 1,797.
Of 7,841 registered voters, 4,094 cast ballots for a 52.2% township voter turnout.
The turnout for Bergen County was given as 280,134 votes cast from a pool of 682,138 registered voters, or 41.1%.
Calamari’s team — Public Affairs Director Daisy Velez (1,820 votes) and incumbent Councilman and Planning Board member Thomas Sears (1,791) — beat DeSena’s running mates, Kevin Zitko (1,729) and Michael Werfel (1,723).
Before the 94 provisional ballots were vetted and counted, Calamari led DeSena by 41 votes. After, Calamari added 50 votes and DeSena picked up 41, leading to a 49-vote difference.
The total includes early-voting provisional votes, including six for Calamari and four for DeSena; there were nine personal choice votes cast for mayor and 16 for council.
Transparency and development were issues in the campaign. Neither Calamari nor DeSena replied to our request for comment.
Provisional ballots often are taken when a voter’s registration cannot be verified or a voter wishes to vote in-person or their voting status is uncertain.
Provisional ballots were counted after the final vote-by-mail ballots, postmarked by Nov. 2, were received on Nov. 8.
This year, registered voters had three opportunities to cast ballots: via a mail-in ballot; during nine days of early voting Oct. 23–31; and in person Nov. 2 at the polls at town hall.