Neptune City Councilman Richard Pryor, center, celebrates his reelection with Neptune City and Monmouth GOP leaders. Click photo for larger view
The streets of Neptune City were reminiscent of Newark, Jersey City or Chicago on election day Tuesday as out of town canvassers worked the town to get Democrats to come out and vote in a Special Election for a Council seat that was vacated as a result of a tie vote last November.
The State Democratic Party emailed Democrat activists statewide, imploring them to knock on doors and make phone calls in Neptune City, “because it is the home of Monmouth County Freeholder Director and Republican Leader Tom Arnone, who previously served as mayor.” U.S. Senator Cory Booker made a robocall for the Democrat candidate. An estimated 30 out of towners were bused in on Tuesday to to find Democratic votes to drag to the polls.
Joe Grillo, Chairman of the Asbury Park Democrats (and a former Democrat freeholder candidate) showed up at the Board of Elections after the deadline for a messenger to obtain a Vote-By-Mail ballot for another voter. Turned away by the Board, Grillo went to Court to get a Judge to Order that ballot request be honored.
The Democrats left no stone unturned to win this election and deal a defeat to the Monmouth GOP and Arnone in particular. Arnone is running for reelection this November. He is also the municipal vice chairman of the Neptune City GOP.
It didn’t work. Republican Richard Pryor defeated Democrat Michael Skudera 510 votes to 475 votes with 2 write-in votes.
On election night last November, Pryor appeared to be reelected by one vote, 600-599. Skudera picked up three votes in a recount and Pryor picked up one. Resulting in Skudera’s “victory” by one vote, 602-601. Skudera was sworn into office on January 1, but not before an 18 year old Borough woman, Michaela O’Brian, who voted for the first time contested the election when she learned that the provisional ballot that she had cast was disallowed by the Board of Elections.