Cranford Democrats take the lead in battle for control

Democrats have taken a narrow lead in the race for one of the two seats on the Cranford Township Committee, with Mayor Brian Andrews now in first place with 3,203 votes.

Republican Michael Petrucci is currently in second place with 3,176, eight votes in front of his running mate, Deirdre Koczur.   The other Democrat, interim Township Committeeman Paul Gallo, has 3,153 votes, 23 behind Petrucci.

Cranford has 90 provisional ballots that remained uncounted as of Friday afternoon and five remaining vote-by-mail ballots that have not yet been processed.  VBMs postmarked by 8 PM on Election Day will still be accepted if they arrive before the close of business on November 13.

If Andrews holds his 35-vote lead over Kozcur, Democrats will retain their local government majority, albeit reduced from 4-1 to 3-2.

Should no additional ballots come in and all 95 remaining ballots be counted – something that is not assured – Republicans will need to get 68 votes (71.6%) to tie and 69 (72%) to win.

The race may now be a fight between the two Republicans, Petrucci and Koczur, for the second seat.

In Garwood, where 4 vote-by-mail and 24 provisional ballots must still be processed, the race for one of the two seats on the borough council remains too close to call, but favoring Democrats: Karina Boto has a 12-vote lead over Republican Michele Capobianco, 591 t0 579.

Unless a huge number of ballots arrive on Monday, Democrat Vincent Kearney, who is 16 votes in front of Boto, and Democrat Sean Keagan Foley (who leads by 21 votes) appear to have won.

Kenilworth Mayor Linda Karlovitch, a Democrat, leads GOP challenger Scott Pentz by 37 votes in a race where election officials say 18 mail-in-ballots and 20 provisionals remain uncounted.