Morris County’s election numbers are in… and they are BIG

Sarah Outlaw, 25, of Morristown, votes on Election Day 2020. Photo by Kevin Coughlin
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How Morris County’s voters feel about voting by mail is an open question. What’s indisputable: They voted.

Nearly 80 percent of registered Morris voters cast ballots in New Jersey’s first all-paper general election of modern times.

“We believe the 78.45 percent is a record,” Robert Hoffman, a spokesman for county Clerk Ann Grossi, said on Monday.

Grossi certified the results on Friday. While her office cannot say with absolute certainty if this was the county’s biggest turnout ever, Grossi attested that 305,874 of 389,909 registered voters exercised their franchise during this pandemic presidential election.

Although registered Republicans outnumber Democrats by a slim margin in Morris County, President-elect Joe Biden bested President Donald Trump, 153,881 votes to 141,134.

Turnout was just under 73 percent in 2016, when Trump edged former Sen. Hillary Clinton by a 126,071-to-115,249 margin.

The state has not released final counts yet for 2020. More than 4.5 million New Jerseyans voted–a record–but the overall percentage may not be known for awhile, according to NJ Spotlight.

Other county-wide final tallies:

Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ) beat Rik Mehta, 146,148 to 141,373.

Rep. Mikie Sherrill (D-11th District) topped Rosemary Becchi,  115,556 to 107,237 in Morris, en route to her second term. The district includes portions of Essex, Sussex and Passaic counties.

While Morris County favored Republican Thomas Kean Jr. over Rep. Tom Malinowski,  36,838 to 32,400, the Democratic incumbent won re-election in the 7th District, which spans Hunterdon County and parts of Essex, Somerset, Union, and Warren.

In state legislative races, Republican state Sen. Anthony M. Bucco topped Democratic challenger Rupande Mehta,  64,539 to 55,093, in District 25, which rests solely in Morris except for the Somerset borough of Bernardsville.

Bucco’s running mate, Assemblywoman Aura Dunn, outpolled Democrat Darcy Draeger, 61,891 to 56,367.

In the Morris Freeholder race, GOP incumbent Tayfun Selen beat Democrat Cary Amaro, 147,446 to 134,688.

Morris Plains Republican Councilmen Sal Cortese (2,184 votes) and Art Bruhn Jr. (2,173) held off a challenge from Democrat Cara Parmigiani (1,960). “I wish them the best of luck,” Parmigiani said.

In Morris Township’s committee election, the Democratic ticket of Mayor Cathy Wilson (8,266 votes) and Bud Ravitz  (7,881) defeated Republicans Sandi Garcia (6,526) and Joe Calvanelli (6,446).

MORE ELECTION 2020 COVERAGE

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