Two-vote margins highlight close school board races across N.J.

A series of extraordinarily close school board and fire commissioner elections across New Jersey have been decided by margins as small as two votes, with several contests potentially headed for recounts even after election officials completed processing ballots.

Seaside Heights has one of the closest contests in the state, where Meghan Cabalar leads Matthew Wright by just two votes, 173 to 171, for the second of two Board of Education seats.  Erik Hershey finished first with 268 votes.  Cabalar had led by a single vote last week before doubling her margin. As of Sunday afternoon, no ballots remained to be processed.

A three-vote margin separates the candidates for the final school board seat in Laurel Springs, where Sheryl Roth has 354 votes to 351 for Douglas DelPidio. Catherine “Kate” McLaughlin leads the field with 465 votes, followed by Kate Robertella with 370.  All ballots have been processed.

Lindenwold’s Fire District No. 1 Board of Fire Commissioners race has Michael Nolan leading Richard Paul by six votes, 1,372 to 1,366, for the second seat.  Tamara DeLucca finished first with 1,608 votes.  No ballots remain outstanding.

Another six-vote margin separates two candidates in Mountain Lakes, where Jessica Bollenbach has 737 votes to 731 for Jennifer Parker.  But both trail Julia McVeigh, who leads with 855 votes, and Sara Forman, with 802.  Three seats are at stake, and all ballots have been processed.

Palisades Park’s Board of Education race has Stephen Kim leading Hea “Helen” Jeon by eleven votes, 1,300 to 1,289, for the third and final seat.  Jason Kim leads the field with 1,387 votes, followed by Grace Song with 1,302.  No ballots remain outstanding.

Two other school board contests remain unsettled because election officials still have ballots to process.

Belvidere’s Board of Education race, which was tied last week, now has Virginia Walton leading Maryann Stephen by two votes, 417 to 415, for the third and final seat.  The two candidates had been deadlocked at 415 votes apiece.   As of Thursday afternoon, all provisional ballots had been processed, but seven vote-by-mail ballots remained outstanding.

The Rancocas Valley Regional school board contest in Mount Holly has J. Stone Laraway leading Ryan Donnelly by fifteen votes, 1,373 to 1,358, for the second seat.  Luis Lopez leads with 1,656 votes.  As of Friday, ten ballots remained to be processed.

Saturday was the deadline for voters to correct technical defects in vote-by-mail ballots, a process that could affect the final results in races where outstanding ballots remain.

None of the results have been certified, and the narrow margins leave open the possibility of recount requests, even in municipalities where all ballots have been counted.