By Lea Kahn
The four-way race for three seats on the Hopewell Valley Regional School District Board of Education was a nail-biter, but when the final votes were counted, two incumbent school board members were re-elected.
Incumbent school board members Alyce Murray and Adam J. Sawicki Jr. were returned to the school board by Hopewell Township voters. The third seat will be occupied by newcomer Sarah Tracy. The term is for three years.
Within a few hours after the polls closed Nov. 7, it appeared that the three seats would be occupied by Sawicki and newcomers Darius Matthews and Sarah Tracy. The initial results showed Tracy earning 2,686 votes, followed by Sawicki with 2,670 votes. Matthews placed third with 2,386 votes and ahead of Murray, who earned 2,355 votes.
But when the mail-in or absentee ballots were counted, along with the provisional ballots, Murray earned more votes than Matthews to capture the third seat on the school board.
That’s because 343 mail-in ballots and provisional ballots for Murray pushed her vote tally to 2,698 votes. Matthews received 294 more votes from mail-in and provisional ballots, for a total of 2,680 votes.
Tracy was the top vote-getter with 2,991 votes – including 305 mail-in ballots and provisional ballots. Sawicki placed second with 2,981 votes, including 311 mail-in ballots and provisional ballots.
Tracy, Sawicki and Murray will be sworn into office when the school board reorganizes in January.
