LAWRENCE: How Lawrence Township voted

Lawrence Township voters elected four school board members and also helped to elect a governor, a state senator, two Assembly members and three freeholders when they went to the polls Tuesday.

By Lea Kahn, Staff Writer
   Lawrence Township voters elected four school board members and also helped to elect a governor, a state senator, two Assembly members and three freeholders when they went to the polls Tuesday.
   The voter turnout was 48 percent, according to Municipal Clerk Kathy Norcia. There are 20,243 registered voters in Lawrence.
   The voters returned incumbent school board members Michael Horan and Laura Waters to the Lawrence Township Board of Education, and elected newcomers Pepper Evans and Dana Drake to the board. They ran unopposed.
   Ms. Evans received 3,789 votes, Mr. Horan got 3,585 votes and Ms. Waters received 3,605 votes. Their terms are for three years. Ms. Drake, who was elected to fill an unexpired one-year term, got 3,744 votes.
   At the top of Tuesday’s ticket, Republican Governor Chris Christie received 4,329 votes from Lawrence voters on his way to claiming a second term. State Sen. Barbara Buono, who was the Democratic gubernatorial candidate, got 3,857 votes in Lawrence.
   Statewide, Gov. Christie received 1.2 million votes and Sen. Buono got 781,710 votes.
   In the 15th Legislative District, Democratic incumbent state Sen. Shirley K. Turner received 4,675 votes from Lawrence residents toward her district-wide tally of 27,805 votes. Her Republican Party challenger, Don Cox, received 3,346 votes in Lawrence and 16,291 votes district-wide.
   Democratic incumbent Assembly members Reed Gusciora and Bonnie Watson Coleman cruised to re-election with 26,517 votes and 26,771 votes respectively, district-wide. In Lawrence, Assemblyman Gusciora got 4,497 votes and Assemblywoman Watson Coleman got 4,449 votes.
   Their Republican Party challengers, Anthony Giordano and Kim Taylor, got 16,194 votes and 16,074 votes district-wide, respectively. Lawrence voters gave Mr. Giordano 3,375 votes and Ms. Taylor got 3,335 votes.
   At the Mercer County Board of Freeholders, Democratic incumbent freeholders Anthony Carabelli and Andrew Koontz got 47,487 votes and 44,789 votes countywide. In Lawrence, Mr. Carabelli received 4,570 votes and Mr. Koontz got 4,343 votes.
   Republican Party freeholder candidates Ron Cefalone and Paul Hummel got 32,570 votes and 31,224 votes countywide. They received 3,300 votes and 3,233 votes, respectively, from Lawrence voters.
   Lawrence voters also overwhelmingly supported two amendments to the New Jersey Constitution — one that raises the minimum wage from $7.25 to $8.25 and that also calls for annual increases in the rate if there are annual increases in the cost of living, and a second amendment that allows veterans organizations to use money collected from existing games of chance to support their organizations.
   Lawrence voters approved the minimum wage issue by 5,952 votes to 1,591 votes. The second public question, which deals with veterans organizations and games of chance, was approved 4,919 to 2,725.