Patricia DiCostanzo

The confusion over who gets to vote at tomorrow night’s election for Bergen County Republican Chairman appears to have ended.

State Sen. Gerald Cardinale will not sue the Bergen County Republican Organization to force it to restrict voting at tomorrow night’s chairmanship runoff to only those who voted last Tuesday.

Cardinale said that Ortiz never had the authority to declare that voting would be open to all county committee members – a responsibility that belongs to the BCRO’s election committee. The committee had previously ruled for restricting tomorrow night’s ballot. Election Commissioner Patricia DiCostanzo even sent a letter informing county committee men and women that only those who voted last Tuesday could vote tomorrow.

Bergen County Republican Chairman Rob Ortiz and challenger Bob Yudin are furiously working the phones today in preparation for Tuesday’s runoff election for the party’s top seat.

The key to winning the chairmanship will be to appeal to the 115 voters who supported Ben Focarino last night before he was knocked out of the race. But, due to a rule reversal, Ortiz and Yudin will also have the opportunity to appeal to voters who missed last night’s election.

That has renewed controversy over whether or not to allow those who didn’t vote last night to vote next Tuesday.

When the results were read last night, Election Committee Chairwoman Patricia DiCostanzo announced that Tuesday’s runoff would be restricted to last night’s voters.

That first upset Yudin, who objected to it before acquiescing a few minutes later, while Ortiz’s supporters agreed with it.

But that ruling was apparently reversed this morning by Ortiz, allowing all county committee voters to participate.