Judge orders recount of mayor's race in close Oakland election contest

OAKLAND — Superior Court ordered a recount on Friday of the borough mayor's race, as requested by Mayor Linda Schwager, who lost to Councilman Eric Kulmala by 56 votes in the Nov. 7 election. It would have been an unprecedented fourth term for Schwager.

Schwager, a Democrat, filed a petition Nov. 26 seeking a hand or machine recount to verify the results. If Kulmala's victory is confirmed in the recount, it would return the municipal government to all-Republican, all-male status for the first time since Schwager was first elected mayor in November 2011.

Judge Peter Geiger issued an order Friday for a hand count of ballots to begin at noon on Wednesday and continue weekdays until completed, according to Schwager's attorney Scott Salmon.

Schwager's petition cites an article from Nov. 20 in The Record describing how "new voting machines, untrained poll workers and slow system services" were to blame for a "chaotic Election Day in Bergen County."

"Some municipalities, including Oakland, saw a surge of voters between 4 p.m. and 8 p.m., because of a close mayoral race and a ballot question, and needed more paper," the article states.

Schwager's petition says "errors were made in the counting of the votes from each district within the Borough of Oakland," and that "such errors could have resulted in an error in the overall tabulation resulting in Kulmala being declared the winner of the election."

Kulmala's attorney, fellow Councilman John McCann, said Friday there would be no appeal.

This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: Oakland NJ mayor race: Judge orders recount in tight election