Weber, Santhana Beat Liu In Holmdel Recount Race Results

HOLMDEL, NJ — At one of the candidate's request, a recount was held in the Holmdel Township municipal election last Thursday, Dec. 5. That recount was done and the unofficial vote results are in.

Independents Cathy Weber and Prakash Santhana have emerged as the final winners in the hotly contested 2019 Holmdel municipal election. This is according to the unofficial recount results that, as of Monday morning, Dec. 9, have still not been certified by the Monmouth County Board of Elections. While the results are not certified yet, they are posted on the county clerk's website: https://results.enr.clarityelections.com/NJ/Monmouth/98884/web/#/detail/32

This means that come January 1, 2020 two Independents will sit on the Holmdel Township Committee, which for more than a decade has been controlled by one-party Republican rule.

Unofficial Holmdel Recount Results:

Cathy Weber 2,170 votes

Prakash Santhana 2,087 votes

Chiung-Yin Liu 2,085 votes

(current Holmdel mayor) Eric Hinds 2,066 votes

On election night, Nov. 5, Weber was clearly in the lead, followed by her running mate Santhana. However, when absentee and mail-in ballots were counted, Liu, a Republican, emerged in second place, ahead of Santhana by one vote.

Santhana requested a recount and now he has emerged as ahead of Liu by a mere two votes.

The independent team of Weber and Santhana appear to be counting this as a cautious victory.

"We are extremely thrilled that after a lengthy recount this afternoon by the Board of Elections, the unofficial results now show both Cathy Weber and Prakash Santhana as the winners of the election," Weber/Santhana said in a statement Thursday. "The results are expected to be certified in the next two or three business days. After results are certified, candidates will have 12 days to decide to challenge the results or not. We want to thank all of our supporters throughout the campaign and especially during the recount phase."

The powerful Monmouth County Republican Party backed Hinds and Liu in the election, and saw their candidates lose. Hinds appeared to have suffered heavily at the polls when he was censured by his fellow Township Committee members in October of this year for allegedly misappropriating $2.1 million in public funds.

Related: Holmdel Mayor Eric Hinds Censured Over $2.1M Turf Field Expense