Ciattarelli Not Conceding in N.J., But Avoiding Claims of Fraud

Jack Ciattarelli, Republican nominee for governor of New Jersey, has yet to concede the state’s surprisingly-competitive election to incumbent Democrat Phil Murphy.

However, according to a statement released Monday by the Ciattarelli campaign, this is based less on concerns over election integrity than it is on their hinging on the 70,000 provisional ballots that remain uncounted in the race, in addition to an undisclosed number of mail-ins.

“Waiting an additional day or two for all votes to be counted should not be controversial,” said Ciattarelli’s legal counsel, Mark Sheridan. “No one on this team is alleging fraud or malfeasance, as we have not seen any credible evidence of that.”

The Associated Press reports:

The campaign estimates that there are about 70,000 provisional ballots — which only count after officials determine that the voter has not already cast another ballot — left to count, along with an unknown number of mail-in ballots.

“At this time, we do not expect the provisional vote count to end with Jack Ciattarelli in the lead. However, that count may reduce the margin for Governor Murphy enough to warrant a full recount,” Sheridan said.

In an apparent jab at the post-2020 election litigation pursued by the legal counsel of former President Donald Trump, Sheridan also quipped that he’s “not looking to be Rudy Giuliani standing in front of a mulch pile.”

Ciattarelli currently trails Murphy by 2.7%. His campaign has stated that its calls for a recount are contingent on whether the race once again finds itself within a 1% margin after the remaining votes are tabulated.

“The odds of them all going in favor of Jack and changing the outcome of this election based on the current timeline is unlikely,” Sheridan said, according to Fox News. “But that doesn’t mean it doesn’t bring it close enough to warrant a recount, which is really what we’re sitting here looking to do at this point of time, is evaluate whether or not it makes sense to recount this vote. ”