Council Ticket Split in Fair Haven: Dem & GOP Newcomers Win Seats

If the unofficial vote tallies hold true, there will be a lone Democrat on the six-member Fair Haven Borough Council dais in January. The winning election ticket for the governing body was split one — one challenger of each party earning a seat.

In a very close race for the two seats on council, with all newcomers running, the unofficial results at the polls show Democrat candidate Michal DiMicelli winning with the most votes, at 1,132, or 25.5 percent of the total 4,445 votes cast, and Republican Brian Olson garnering 1,121, or 25.2 percent.

DiMicelli ran on the Democrat ticket with Neil Blecher, who won the fewest votes of the four vying for the two seats up for grabs. He garnered 1,078 votes.

Republican Melissa Lowry, who ran with Olson, won 1,113 votes, or 25 percent.

The Fair Haven Borough Council dais currently has a Republican majority, 4-2. It swung from a first-time Democrat majority of 4-2 with last year’s election when two newcomer Republicans ousted first-time, one-term Democrat council members Meghan Chrisner-Keefe and Mike McCue.

Since these election results at the polls are so close, the remaining vote tallies could alter these results. Those tallies will be added when reported.

The unofficial vote tally, according to the Monmouth County Board of Elections, excludes the provisional ballots, Election Day and early vote emergency votes. As of the closing of the polls, with all voting districts reporting, those votes had not been tallied by 10:30 p.m..

The mail-in ballot count continues after Election Day, as new law allows for counting to continue as long as the mail is postmarked by Election Day and received up to six days after polls close.