Grayzel, Caffrey Take Wins in Morris Twp.

Democrat Jeff Grayzel will return to Morris Township's Committee, reclaiming a seat he held from 2007 through 2009.

Tuesday night's election was close, with Grayzel and incumbent Republican Daniel W. Caffrey virtually tied, with 2,512 votes and 2,519 votes, respectively. That means they each secured a coming term on the governing body.

Coming up short were Republican Andres Benvenuto, who got 2,462 votes, according to the unofficial tallies. Democrat Mike Kandybowicz got 2,333 votes. Note: An earlier version of this post incorrectly referred to Benvenuto as an incumbent.

The results brought on some nail-biting at the Morris County Democratic Headquarters in Morristown, as Grayzel and Kandybowicz were using calculators and doing math in their heads to count up votes until the final results came in at about 9:30 p.m.

Grayzel was disappointed early on at losing his home district, 16, to incumbant Dan Caffrey by 8 votes. He garnered two more than the other Republican, Andreas Benvenuto.

Jeff Grayzel and Kandybowicz were staring at a posterboard with numbers written in Sharpie, working out the math as results came in Tuesday.

Grayzel was disappointed at losing his home district, 16, to incumbant Caffrey by 8 votes. He garnered two more than the other Republican, Benvenuto.

Grayzel and Democratic worker Joyce Barr said they were concerned about an email against Grayzel's candidacy that was sent to residents from the email address chairman@morristwpgop.org.

Barr said she believes the 88 homes in Bradford Estates were targeted with the e-mail, which said a letter written by Grayzel to a daily newspaper misrepresented the facts about the township budget.

But the message wasn't enough to cost Grayzel a win.

"Enough voters know who I am and what I stand for," he said. "I will try to work with the committee to make Morris Township a better place for every resident."

He also said Kandybowicz's showing was good for a first-time candidate.

Kandybowicz called the campaign "a great learning experience. I look forward to doing it again next year as long as the Democrats support me."

Caffrey and Benvenuto, who'd said earlier they wouldn't be gathering for an official Election Night celebration, could not be reached by phone Tuesday evening.