It's Official (Sort of): School Budget Narrowly Approved

HACKENSACK—A review Tuesday afternoon of the provisional ballots in last Wednesday's school budget vote has left the results just as they were before—with the $55.1 million budget passing by the narrow margin of three votes.

With Fort Lee School Superintendent Raymond Bandlow, district business administrator Cheryl Balleto and assistant school board attorney Yaacov Brisman watching closely, county election officials reviewed 28 provisional ballots—paper ballots cast by a voter whose eligibility requirements are in question.

The unofficial tally before the review started was 1,105 in favor and 1,102 against.

Election officials Tuesday threw out seven of the provisional ballots at the outset, ruling that five were from voters who were not registered, and that two had been declared void at the polling place.

That left 21 to be counted. Of those, seven voted in favor of the budget, seven voted against and seven did not vote on the budget question, leaving the final tally at 1,112 in favor and 1,109 against.

“We’re very pleased—very happy that the budget passed,” a visibly relieved Bandlow told the small group of reporters gathered to watch the count. “It was extremely close, and we know this is a very difficult economy. We very much appreciate the support of the Fort Lee voters, who once again showed that education matters greatly.”

He said he appreciates the hard work that “many people put in to make this possible” and that there were many potential factors influencing the low voter turnout Wednesday of roughly 12 percent, including holding the election unusually late and on a Wednesday instead of a Tuesday and the current state of the economy.

Of the narrow margin of victory on the budget vote, Bandlow said, “This is a democracy. One more than the other side, that’s all it takes. It doesn’t matter if [the budget] passes by one vote or a thousand.”

Final certification of the election will be Friday at 10 a.m., according to Bergen County election officials.

Tuesday's count of provisional ballots also added to the vote totals of all six candidates who ran for three seats on the board, although that race was decided on election day, when incumbents Peter Suh and Joseph Surace were re-elected to the board and newcomer Helen Yoon was elected to a first term.

The provisional totals from Tuesday for each candidate and unofficial (until Friday) final tallies are as follows: