One vote now separates the candidates in the race for mayor of South Amboy, New Jersey. Independent candidate Mary O’Connor, sought election in the small New Jersey town against the favored Democratic candidate, Fred Henry.   The current mayor held the seat for 23 years, chose not to run for re-election earlier this year after being dropped as an assembly candidate amid a flurry of subpoenas and FBI investigations.

Recount upholds 1-vote margin in South Amboy mayoral race  – Daily Record

While a recount of votes for mayor of South Amboy did not change the outcome, it was likely just the first legal step taken by the loser in an effort to swing the one-vote margin her way.

Democrat and current City Council President Fred Henry was officially named the city’s mayor-elect Friday with a razor-thin one-vote win over independent Mary O’Connor, 1,128 to 1,127, following a recount of the ballots submitted in the Nov. 2 general election.

County Clerk Elaine Flynn said that tally mirrors the outcome of the first count.

Both candidates, their attorneys, county Board of Election officials and commissioners attended Friday’s recount, which was held at the county’s voting machine warehouse in Roosevelt Park in Edison.

Judge Phillip Paley, sitting in Superior Court, New Brunswick, ordered the recount during a hearing Wednesday morning at the county courthouse. Henry said he was pleased with the outcome of the recount, but warned that the post-election fight may not yet be over. “At this point, I would hope that it’s over, but I get the feeling that it’s not yet,” he said. “Again, I trust the system. . . . If you win or lose by one vote, or a hundred votes, or a thousand votes, it’s a win or loss either way.”

The recount included examining voting machines and then physically tallying the mail-in and provisional ballots. “We’re just here to report what we have, and then it’s up to the judge whether they want to open votes originally voided or disallow votes originally counted, based on testimony provided,” Middlesex County Board of Elections Administrator Jim Vokral said last week.

O’Connor said Friday she’ll likely ask a judge to consider just that. “Now we’re going to look at individual ballots,” she said. “And it just won’t just be ballot stuff, but it’ll be possible irregularities at the polls I’m sure, too. Anything you think may have been wrong with that election could be up for discussion.”

Update: Early last week five mail in ballots appered at the county office, nearly 3 weeks after the election.  Neither camp has claimed a victor yet.  According to one news source three local police who live out of town and one mail carrier also living out of town voted.