Pryor contests Neptune City election

Michaela O’Brien, 18 of Neptune City. “Every vote counts…I prove it.”

Election result rests with first time voter

Neptune City Councilman Richard Pryor has lodged a contest of the November 3 general election in Monmouth County Superior Court.

Pryor, a Republican, was leading his race for reelection by one vote following the counting of provisional ballots on November 9. In the November 24 recount, Democrat Michael Skudera picked up three votes while Pryor picked up one. Skudera now leads Pryor by one vote, 602-601.

At issue in the contest, which was filed by Jason N. Sena, Esq of the Manalapan law firm Cutolo Mandel, LLC, is one of the two provisional votes that was disqualified by the Board of Election on November 9.

Michaela O’Brien, an 18 year old Brookdale student voting for the first time voted by provisional ballot when her name did not appear in the poll book at the Neptune City First Aid Building on Election Day. O’Brien turned 18 in August and registered to vote on or about October 13, according to the complaint filed by Sena last week.

The Board of Elections disqualified O’Brien’s ballot because they could not verify the last four digits of her Social Security number with the Social Security Administration, according to the complaint. The four digits O’Brien entered on her Voter Registration Application and her provisional ballot match the last four digits on her Social Security card.

O’Brien told MoreMonmouthMusings that she voted Republican. Should the Judge rule in Pryor’s favor and O’Brien’s vote be counted, the election will be tied, triggering a run off election between Pryor and Skudera.

“I’ve always said that every vote counts—I prove it,” O’Brien said in a phone interview. “This is exciting. It will be the first tie in Neptune City history.”