New Brunswick re-elects incumbents with 3% turnout; just 7% of voters show up in East Hanover

With just 7% of voters turning out to vote, East Hanover re-elected Joseph Troise and Catherine Pfund-Olsen to the school board today, with Michael Foti capturing an open seat.

Newcomer Michael Foti was the top vote-getter with 418 votes, followed by Troise (326) and Pfund-Olsen (316).    Philomeno Mattia (256) finished fourth.

East Hanover approved their school budget by a 61%-39% margin.  Vote-by-mail ballots accounted for roughly 29% of the total votes.

Less than 3% of New Brunswick voters turned out for today’s school board election, which saw three incumbents re-elected by relatively narrow margins.

Patricia Varella was the top vote-getter with 333 votes, followed by Emra Seawood (321) and Dale Caldwell (313).   Just 74 votes separated Caldwell from the fourth-place finisher, Linda Stork, who received 239 votes.  Yeni Mendez Romero (214) and Nishad Sonam Datta (191) were also defeated.

The school budget won voter approval by an 82%-18% margin.

There was no opposition in Cliffside Park, where incumbents Judith Abreu and Teddy Tarabokija were re-elected and Carl Raincourt won an open seat.  The budget passed with 71% of the vote, but turnout in today’s election was a mere 2%.

Three incumbents in Fairview, Tonin Berisha, Hossam Elsamra, and Kenneth Schmitt, also had no opponents.  Turnout was 3%, and the budget passed with 83%.

In the City of Passaic, where voter turnout was roughly 2.5%,  three incumbents ran without opposition: Christina Schratz, Arthur Soto and Leslie Zuniga.  Passaic voters approved their budget by an 82%-18% margin.

There was no contest in Totowa, where voter turnout was at 7%.  Heather Antonucci, an incumbent, and two new candidates, Nicholas Vancheri and Kristin Coiro, were unopposed.  Voters passed the school budget with 73%.