These Bergen County election races are still too close to call
After a long election night and two errors that held up initial numbers, Bergen County is expected to post updated and final election results later this week.
The election is scheduled to be certified on Nov. 22, two weeks after Election Day, said Bergen County Clerk John Hogan.
Mail-in ballots postmarked before 8 p.m. on Election Day had six days to make it to the clerk's office. The Board of Elections is finalizing those numbers and going through provisional ballots. Hogan said he expects to get those numbers by Friday at the latest.
Once results are certified, it will put an end to local races too close to call but won't end the discussion of an Election Day marred by issues with new voting machines and another late night of waiting for results.
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What went wrong on Election Day in Bergen County?
A second wrong election results file was posted last Thursday night on the Bergen County clerk's website, with at least 30,000 missing votes.
The initial incorrect file was posted to the site on the night of Nov. 7, as the first results of the election were being tallied.
The most recent wrong file was uploaded during the adjudication of write-in ballots by the clerk's office. Hogan said the file has since been removed from the site.
As for the first wrong file, Hogan said, during the "haste" of getting the final town results in after midnight, it was uploaded, causing the results page not to upload correctly. At that point county officials reverted to uploading a correct PDF file format of the results. Oakland, Dumont and Mahwah didn't return results until close to midnight, Hogan said, delaying the final run.
Bergen County Board of Elections Chairman Richard Miller, a Republican, previously said the results weren't the only problems the county faced on Election Day. The new voting machines caused numerous challenges that led to lines out the door.
County officials are calling for reports and investigations on what went wrong and how to prevent it from happening again during the next election cycle.
Bergen County's close races
The updated results on Friday will determine the outcome for a handful of Bergen County towns where races are still too close to call.
In Bogota, 11 votes separate the mayoral candidates and 11 votes also separate the Democrat and the Republican pursuing the second seat on the council.
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The Cresskill council race, where two seats are open, is also separated by a handful of votes. Democrat Arthur McLaughlin and Republic Hector Olmo are tied for the most votes at 820 each, followed by Democrat Morgan McCord and Republican James Cleary with 800 votes.
In Ridgefield, 19 votes separate a Democrat and a Republican for a council seat, 16 votes separate candidates in Tenafly and 28 votes are the difference in a Washington Township council race.
The outcomes of the Hillsdale and Oakland mayoral races are currently resting on a gap of 65 votes, while 64 votes separate candidates in a Wallington council race.
Too-close-to-call school board races remain in East Rutherford, Fort Lee, Haworth and Palisades Park.
This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: These Bergen County election races are still too close to call
