Atlantic City's form of government will stay the same.In the first all mail-in election, voters came out strong against the move.The no vote was leading by more than 3 to 1 Tuesday night."The people have rejected change, and we accept without qualification their decision," Local 54 Unite HERE President Bob McDevitt said on behalf of Atlantic City Residents for Good Government.McDevitt had been one of the leaders pushing for a change to the manager form of government. Mayor Marty Small took to Facebook live late Tuesday night to thank residents and highlight the size of the victory."Now is not the time to change the form of government and now is not the time to change leadership in the mayor's office," he said. There are still more than 1,800 votes left to count, and more expected to arrive in the mail Wednesday and Thursday.
But the overwhelming turnout against the change was enough for a concession.
"After the first night of counting the ballots, it is clear that the referendum to change the government structure in Atlantic City will be defeated by a wide margin even though counting continues," McDevitt said."We congratulate the opposition to the question and thereby concede defeat," McDevitt said.There were still 600 ballots that came in Tuesday as part of the state's first all mail-in election.Of the remaining votes to count are 1,227 ballots that are being held that were sent in before the March 31 election was moved to May 12, as part of the state's reaction to the COVID-19 shutdown.The board will first wait to see which of those voters also sent in mail-in ballots for the new date. Those that didn't will then be counted."There are many challenges ahead for Atlantic City as we begin to reopen business on the heels of the devastating pandemic," McDevitt said. "We wish the elected officials well in their struggles ahead and offer a heartfelt thanks to all our supporters who worked so tirelessly on behalf of our cause."
The county Board of Elections will not meet again until 5 p.m. Friday.
