New Jersey Republican gubernatorial candidate Jack Ciattarelli is still not ready to concede. Instead, he's waiting on every legal vote to be counted.
In a statement released Monday, his campaign said there is currently a 66,405-vote difference between him and Gov. Phil Murphy, but there are approximately 70,000 provisional ballots that still have to be counted “as a result of Governor Murphy’s rush to implement early voting,” which caused “technology errors” and hence the need for the provisional ballots.
Mail-in-ballots were still being collected through Monday and haven’t been counted yet, either.
“Waiting an additional day or two for all votes to be counted should not be controversial,” said Ciattarelli legal counsel Mark Sheridan, adding that “no one on this team is alleging fraud or malfeasance, as we have not seen any credible evidence of that.”
Sheridan said while they’re not expecting the vote count to finish with the Republican ahead of Murphy, “that count may reduce the margin for Governor Murphy enough to warrant a full recount.” Any decision on a recount will be made when “all of the facts” come out, Sheridan added, including that it was the first time the Garden State conducted an election “under the new law, using new technology and vote counting procedures.”
While Murphy is calling on his challenger to concede, Ciattarelli strategist Chris Russell said the governor’s attempt to “spin their lackluster performance” won’t affect their decision on how to proceed.
“We understand that Governor Murphy and his team are embarrassed that in a state with 1 million more registered Democrats and where Joe Biden won by 16, they are leading by such a small margin,” he said.
The campaign of incumbent Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy, who leads by 2.6 points, is calling on Ciattarelli to concede, per @daveweigel. https://t.co/JnAZhHc7pg
— Andrew Solender (@AndrewSolender) November 8, 2021