Darrin Sharif won the Central Ward runoff election by 11 votes today, after Essex County election commissioners tallied 41 provisional ballots at the Hall of Records office, said Essex County Clerk Christopher Durkin.

Provisional ballots are used whenever there are questions of residency or eligibility. The ballots are usually added to the poll station and absentee ballot figures after questions of their legitimacy are determined.

In the unofficial tally after the June 15 election, Sharif led Bell by 25 votes - 2,374 to 2,359 - from the Central Ward's 31 polling districts.

In the May 11 non-partisan municipal elections, neither Bell nor Sharif received more than 50 percent of the Central Ward vote among the multicandidate field, prompting the runoff.

Sharif is the second challenger to unseat an incumbent council member who ran on Mayor Cory A. Booker's team. South Ward voters elected Ras Baraka over incumbent Oscar James II in the May 11 non-partisan election.

Bell, a former Newark Public Schools Board of Education member was unseated by Booker-backed Dana Rone in 2006. He regained his seat in a special November 2008 special election, in which he came out on top in a field of four candidates, including Booker-backed union leader Eddie Osborne.

Since the election, Booker and Bell made peace and Booker threw his political muscle behind Bell during the May election and the runoff election.
The final tallies will be certified by Durkin on June 29. That period allows for any challenges or recount calls from either Sharif or Bell.

Pending a final tally, Sharif would be sworn in as the next Central Ward Council member with Mayor Cory A. Booker and eight council colleagues July 1 at NJPAC.