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HERALD: Voters decide local winners

By Jen Samuel, Managing Editor
   Election Day was Tuesday.
   As the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy began to clear, Americans re-elected Barack Obama as president of the United States.
   He defeated Republican challenger Mitt Romney.
   Tuesday night, unofficial results were released for local races in Hightstown and East Windsor.
   Two three-year Borough Council seats were up this year. Voters chose incumbent Democrats Gail Doran and Lawrence Quattrone. Mr. Quattrone serves as Borough Council president.
   They defeated Republican challengers Denise “Denny” Hansen and George Serrano.
   Mr. Serrano collected 658 votes. Ms. Hansen collected 808 votes. Ms. Doran received 983 votes, and Mr. Quattrone received 1,179 votes, according to unofficial election results.
   ”Thank you to the voters of Hightstown for your support. I’m proud of the bipartisan team on the present council and glad that we can maintain the momentum,” Ms. Doran said.
   ”The aftermath of Irene is my first, second and third priorities right now,” she said Thursday. “We have to establish a reasonable place for our borough employees to work while we rebuild Borough Hall. We also have to organize our records and figure out what we’ve lost, what we know and what we don’t know.”
   Ms. Doran was first elected to the council in 2011 for a one-year unexpired term.
   As for Tuesday’s election, Ms. Doran said, “I’d like to thank my opponents for a clean and reasonable campaign, and I look forward to their input at the future council meetings.”
   There were no municipal seats up on the East Windsor Township Council this year.
   There was one Hightstown seat up on the East Windsor Regional Board of Education. Peter Bussone received 787 votes in an uncontested race for that seat.
   In a contested race for three East Windsor seats on the Board of Education, incumbents Kenneth Paul and Paul Connolly both kept their seats. Mr. Paul received 3,370 votes, and Mr. Connolly received 3,014 votes.
   Said Mr. Connolly, “I am looking forward to assisting the district as it continues to strive to provide the best educational experience for our students. We have many challenges ahead — tenure reform-teacher evaluations, curriculum updates per State Core guidelines, yearly and long-term budgets — but as a current board member, I believe we have a strong administration that already has plans and is implementing them into our current procedures.”
   Mr. Connolly continued, “It is a privilege to serve as a board volunteer — like so many other parents, I realize that if we want better schools, we need to actively contribute to the process. Thank you to the residents who supported Alice, Ken and myself — and God bless America!”
   As for the third open seat, voters elected Alice Weisman with 3,712 votes.
   Ms. Weisman lost her seat in 2011 to newcomer Lisa Abel, who currently sits on the board.
   ”I would like to express my appreciation to the East Windsor community for returning me and my running mates, Kennedy Paul and Paul Connolly, to the school board,” Ms. Weisman said Thursday.
   ”We all are committed to working hard for the children of our district,” she said. “I want to see our district continue to improve and to deliver the best possible education to every student.”
   Newcomer Lilia Gobaira lost her bid to join the Board of Education with 2,666 votes.
   She told the Herald on Thursday that she will run again.
   ”I congratulate all the elected (members) and I strongly believe that they will advocate for the children of EWRS,” Ms. Gobaira said.
   In Hightstown, the polling location for Election Day was changed to the First Presbyterian Church as a result of Hurricane Sandy.
   Also, the Melvin H. Kreps Middle School polling places, District 7, District 13 and District 14, were moved to the municipal building.
Editor’s note: All election results listed in this article are unofficial.