Copyright Joliet, IL Patch
James Cody, James Dobis and Joe Fitzgerald all gave a comment the morning after the election: MIDDLETOWN, NJ — James Cody, one of the candidates leading in the Middletown school board race, said Wednesday morning after the election the race is still too close to call, and his slate will not be commenting. "I think it’s appropriate to wait 'till all votes are counted before commenting," Cody said Wednesday. The Monmouth County Clerk still has to count all the mail-in ballots and any provisional ballots (votes that were contested), a process that can take several days. The Middletown school board election was extremely close on Election Night: Cody and running mate Chris Aveta have a razor-line lead over a third member of their slate, Sara Weinstein. Also, Erin Torres has a 47-vote lead over Weinstein. There also may be thousands of mail-in ballots that still need to be counted, said candidate James Dobis. "For context, last year’s presidential election saw about 6,100 mail-in ballots in Middletown," he said, referring to the 2024 presidential election. "Since this was a gubernatorial election year, there should be a considerable number still to count." So, mail-in and provisional ballots can make a difference in this year's extremely close Middletown school board election. "Still pretty close, stay tuned in," Dobis Patch Wednesday morning. "The in-person votes are in, but the race isn’t over yet. Mail-in ballots will continue to be tallied over the next several days ... No matter the final outcome, I’m proud of the campaign I ran, focused on transparency, accountability and keeping our schools strong for the future. Thank you to everyone who stood with me and helped make that message heard." And finally, candidate Joe Fitzgerald published a statement to his Facebook page Tuesday night congratulating Aveta and Torres, who hold the strongest lead at the moment. "Let me be the first to say Congratulations to Chris Aveta and Erin Torres for being elected to the Middletown Board of Education," said Fitzgerald. "I’ll hold off on the last spot because we still have provisionals and such coming in. I believe Jim Cody will get the third and final spot but we’ll see because it’s pretty tight .... I’d like to also acknowledge Jim Dobis who ran an amazing campaign. Please stay with it because you’re going to be a great Board Member when your time comes."
