County Democrats sweep for the first time in 25 years

By MELISSA HAYES and DAVID LEVINSKY

MOUNT LAUREL — A roomful of Democrats shouted “Yes we can” last night as they swept the national presidential race and elected candidates to the county Board of Freeholders for the first time in 25 years.

Evesham Township Councilman Chris Brown and Shamong Township Committeewoman Mary Anne Reinhart defeated incumbent Republican Freeholders Aubrey Fenton and Stacey Jordan.

In the race for county clerk, Fieldsboro Councilman Tim Tyler beat Gary Woodend of Medford Lakes.

Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama also carried the county easily.

According to unofficial results at press time, Obama received 121,222 votes countywide, compared to Republican John McCain's 83,078 votes. The tally doesn't include some 14,000 absentee ballots from around the county or about 100 emergency paper ballots from Willingboro.

The Willingboro votes were the last to be tallied early this morning because a voting machine malfunction required voters to use paper ballots, which took longer to tally than the machine votes.

Obama appeared to have won 30 of Burlington County's 40 municipalities.

“From the beginning of this campaign, we were dealing with the mantra Barack Obama laid down and he said "Yes we can,'” said Rick Perr, chairman of the Burlington County Democratic Committee. “Going into tonight, you said, "Yes we will.' I'm here to tell you yes we did.”

Brown garnered the most votes, with 98,738. Reinhart had 96,448, followed by Fenton with 84,564 and Jordan with 82,674.

Tyler defeated Woodend 98,744 to 83,083. They were running for an open seat vacated when Phil Haines was sworn into the state Senate earlier this year.

Tyler joked that there were more people gathered in the crowded ballroom of the Marriott on Route 73, than there are living in his hometown of Fieldsboro.

“It's just an overwhelming thing to be standing here in front of you,” he said.

Both sides admitted Obama's big win helped local Democrats sail to victory.

“We ran up against a national tsunami,” said Bill Layton, chairman of the Burlington County Republican Committee. “Republicans lost everywhere, and unfortunately we got caught up in a wave we couldn't overcome.”

The Democrats said they look forward to next year when two more seats on the Board of Freeholders are up for grabs and they have a chance to take control of county government for the first time since 1975.

Reinhart said even though she won't take office until January, she plans to get right to work.

“We're going to look out for the benefit of all those who live in Burlington County,” she said, thanking the crowd for its support.

Brown's acceptance speech was cut off by televised news reports declaring Obama had defeated Arizona Sen. John McCain in the run for the White House. “Wow, I've been upstaged,” he said.

Brown said he was excited to win the election.

“It feels unbelievable,” he said. “It feels like we have a lot of work to do. It feels like we're accomplished.”

The Democratic gains were made during what many predicted would be record turnout at the polls.

At Levitt Middle School in Willingboro, poll workers reported voters were lined up waiting to cast ballots about an hour before the polls opened.

“They were lining up from here to the post office this morning,” said longtime poll worker Tom Doyle, who was at the middle school. “We've had over 342 voters in our district alone and it's not even lunch.”

“It's amazing. I've never seen turnout like this,” said Willingboro poll worker Brenda Veal.

Burlington County Superintendent of Elections Joanne Nyikita said similar turnouts were occurring in other parts of the county.

Aside from the long lines at the polls, poll workers also had to contend with scattered machine malfunctions and a record number of absentee ballots.

Machine malfunctions were reported at two polling locations in Willingboro during the first two hours that polls were open. Nyikita said that single machines also malfunctioned in Beverly, Evesham, Medford, Moorestown and Mount Holly. None of those machines had to be replaced, but emergency paper ballots were used until repairs were completed.

Some voters were also forced to cast provisional ballots because their names were not on voter logs at their polling places.

The voting results remain unofficial, as nearly 14,000 absentee ballots have yet to be tallied. The Burlington County Board of Elections was given until 4 p.m. Friday to complete the absentee-vote count after Deputy Attorney General Bruce Velzy was granted an extension by Superior Court Judge Patricia LeBon.

That count is typically performed on election night, but Velzy argued that the extension was needed due to the volume of votes and concerns that tired workers could make mistakes.

<<back