By JOANNE L. PAPAIANNI
Former Board of Education President Nicolle Harris has filed a lawsuit to contest the nullification of 41 mail-in ballots from the April 19 election.
Harris along with her two running mates lost the election by a margin of 28 with Harris garnering the most on her ticket of 477. Dominic Latorraco who received the least number of votes on his ticket received 519 votes.
Harris is not seeking a recount, which she would have had to request 15 days after the election.
Latorraco and Connie Breech, who were both elected, were both served papers about the lawsuit on May 27.
Chief Clerk in the Monmouth County Board of Elections office, Maria Sardo-Lopes, said the paperwork regarding the suit was sent by fax to the New Jersey Acting Attorney General Robert Lougy.
Lougy will have 35 days to respond to the complaint, Sardo-Lopes said.
She did not indicate what steps Lougy could take regarding the complaint.
Breech who received 527 votes, said she did not want to have to hire an attorney to contest the suit and did not understand why she is being served.
“I didn’t have anything to do with the mail-in ballots,” she said.
Barbara Lesinksi, who was the top voter getter in the election with 544 said she had not been served yet.
She said it was her understanding that Harris was claiming “disenfranchisement” in the election process.
Lesinski, however, said the election had been certified by both the county and the state before all three candidates were sworn in at the April meeting.
Lesinski said to her knowledge Harris filed a civil action contesting the fact that the county had nullified 41 mail-in ballots.
Superintendent Dr. Lamont Repollet said, “The Asbury Park School District received a complaint filed by former board member Nicolle D. Harris on Thursday, May 26, 2016. We have turned the information over to our attorney. As this is now a legal matter, we are unable to comment further at this time.”
