By Stephen Appezzato
ATLANTIC HIGHLANDS – In a key development in the lawsuit challenging the results of November’s borough elections, the complaint against newly elected council member Alyson Forbes was struck down. Forbes will remain in her seat.
On Feb. 1 Monmouth County Superior Court Judge Mara Zazzali-Hogan approved a motion to dismiss the challenge against Forbes filed on behalf of council member James Murphy and former council candidate Ellen O’Dwyer-Woods.
In December, Murphy and O’Dwyer-Woods filed a petition contesting the November 2023 general election results in the borough. Atlantic Highlands’ voters chose Democrats Lori Hohenleitner for mayor and Forbes and Jon Crowley for the council.
All three won their seats by small margins – a mere five votes separated Hohenleitner from Republican Murphy.
For the two open council seats, incumbent Crowley tallied the most votes with 872 and Forbes came in second with 852, only 12 votes ahead of Republican O’Dwyer-Woods’ 840.
Murphy filed a petition in the mayoral race in the beginning of December, prompting a recount which reaffirmed Hohenleitner as mayor.
Murphy and O’Dwyer-Woods’ new petition argued that “illegal votes were received and that legal votes were improperly rejected” during the election, which allowed Hohenleitner and Forbes to narrowly win their races. The petition alleged 19 votes were cast by voters who did not meet residency requirements at the time and another three indicate “the named voter did not fill out their own ballot.” The petition also stated that some votes with write-in names were improperly counted.
Scott Salmon of Jardim Meisner Salmon Sprague & Susser, legal counsel for Hohenleitner and Forbes, filed a motion to dismiss the inquiry against Forbes Jan. 12. The motion argued that O’Dwyer-Woods’ petition was “untimely,” meaning it was submitted past the deadline. According to state law, a candidate must file a petition contesting election results within 32 days of the election.
Since Murphy’s original petition which led to the recount in the mayoral race, was filed in the beginning of December, his most recent petition against Hohenleitner filed Dec. 26 is still valid. Salmon argued Murphy and O’Dwyer-Woods’ “attempt to try and use the Court’s jurisdiction over Hohenleitner to also confer jurisdiction over a separate and distinguishable race is inappropriate.” The judge agreed.
In a statement to The Two River Times, Salmon said they were “pleased that Judge Zazzali-Hogan granted our motion to dismiss the claims against Councilwoman Forbes,” and that, “It was clear from us from the beginning that there was a deadline by which Ms. O’Dwyer-Woods had to file an election contest, and it is not our responsibility for her failure to understand the law.”
“While we believe that this case is completely without any merit, we are looking forward to demonstrating, once and for all, that Mayor Hohenleitner truly won this election fair and square,” Salmon said.
Following Zazzali-Hogan’s decision, the petition against Hohenleitner and Forbes was updated. O’Dwyer-Woods is now only an interested party, not a petitioner.
According to Salmon, at this time trial for Murphy’s petition against Hohenleitner is set for Feb. 20.
With Hohenleitner’s margin of victory over Murphy at just five votes, the court’s findings on the 22 votes named in the petition could potentially change the outcome.
Murphy’s legal council did not respond to a request for comment by press time.
The article originally appeared in the February 8 –14, 2024 print edition of The Two River Times.
