Claire French

FREEHOLD – A squat drab building on the side of a highway could describe a lot of places in New Jersey, but this one warrants a double take because a state trooper stands out front, and operatives come and go, frantically talking on their cellphones in the rain.

It’s two days after Election Day, but there remains a political war going on in Monmouth and here at the Clerk’s Office on Halls-Mill Road represents ground zero.

In a fight to secure a second seat on the Freeholder Board, Democratic candidate Amy Mallet leads Republican candidate John Curley by 18 votes, 135,688 to 135,670 as representatives from both parties jockey in the background for position in case a legal challenge goes down.

Monmouth County Clerk Claire French reports that the county offices are extremely busy this evening as residents in the traditionally Republican-controlled central region try to meet voter registration deadline.

Of the Board of Elections, “That office is working into the wee hours,” French told PolitickerNJ.com.

Following the Feb. 5th Democratic Primary, Monmouth recorded 102,466 Democrats and 92,126 Republicans. As of this afternoon, those numbers had jumped to 119,785 registered Democrats and 108,545 registered Republicans in the battleground county, according to French.

267,226 Monmouth County voters remain unaffiliated.

Republican presidential hopeful and New Jersey frontrunner Rudy Giuliani couldn’t catch a break today in Monmouth County.

First, the former New York mayor had to personally withdraw from a fund-raiser in Colts Neck because of flu-like symptoms that put him in the hospital.

The he came in at the bottom of the heap in Clerk Claire French’s ballot drawing ths afternoon for placement on the Feb. 5th primary ballot.

District 13 State Sen. Joe Kyrillos works the room in Middletown in Bachstadt's Tavern, where he held a rally here today attended by his own running mates and other GOP candidates, including County Clerk Claire French and Sheriff's candidate Kim Guadagno.

The Asbury Park Press has endorsed Democrat Amod Choudhary for Monmouth County Clerk against Republican incumbent Claire French.  READ

Monmouth County Democratic Clerk candidate Amod Choudhary says he will take only the state-required salary for the clerk’s office in an effort to save the taxpayers more than $66,595 during his first term, according to a press release issued by the Monmouth County Democrats.

Choudhary is running against Clerk Claire French, whose pay raises from the Republican Board of Chosen Freeholders over the past five years "are far above the required salary for that position," the candidate says.