Lawrence Township voters returned four incumbents to the Lawrence Township Public Schools Board of Education, based on unofficial results of the Nov. 6 general election.
The vote tallies for the school board election, which was the only local election the ballot, only reflect ballots cast on voting machines. The tallies for the school board election, as well as the other contests up and down the ballot, do not include mail-in and provisional ballots.
Incumbent board member Jo Ann L. Groeger led the vote tally with 5,080 votes. She was followed by Kevin A. Van Hise, 4,432 votes, and Joyce Scott, 2,847 votes. The term is for three years.
Challengers Jennifer Perry received 2,386 votes, Tam Ngo received 2,377 votes and Keva Stewart received 1,958 votes.
Incumbent Dana Drake, who was seeking to complete an unexpired two-year term, turned back a challenge from Becky Jo DiPierro. Drake received 4,583 votes and DiPierro received 2,227 votes.
Meanwhile, Lawrence Township voters contributed toward the re-election bids of the other candidates on the ballot, from the federal level down to the state and county levels.
Voters favored incumbent Democratic U.S. Sen. Robert Menendez over his Republican rival, Bob Hugin. They handed Menendez 6,996 votes of the 1,498,169 votes he received statewide, and gave Hugin 3,401 votes of the 1,228,296 votes he collected statewide. The term is for six years.
Voters gave incumbent U.S. Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman, a Democrat, 7,646 votes of the total 147,086 votes cast for her in the 12th Congressional District. Her Republican opponent, Daryl Kipnis, got 3,050 of his total 68,307 votes from Lawrence voters. The term is for two years.
In the two special elections for unexpired Assembly terms in the state’s 15th Legislative District, voters gave Democratic incumbent Assemblyman Anthony Verrelli 7,349 votes to the 2,987 votes received by his Republican challenger, Justin Tibbetts. District-wide, Verrelli received 41,505 votes and Tibbetts received 15,0302 votes.
In the second special election, Democratic incumbent Assemblywoman Verlina Reynolds-Jackson received 7,262 votes from Lawrence voters, compared to 3,206 for Republican candidate Tracy R. Sinatra. District-wide, Reynolds-Jackson received 42,220 votes and Sinatra received 15,735 votes.
Verrelli is completing the unexpired term of Reed Gusciora, who left the Assembly upon being elected mayor of Trenton, and Reynolds-Jackson is completing the unexpired term of Liz Muoio, who left the Assembly upon being appointed state treasurer by Gov. Phil Murphy. The two unexpired terms will end in December 2019.
In the race for the Mercer County Board of Chosen Freeholders, Lawrence voters helped three incumbent freeholders, Ann M. Cannon, Pasquale “Pat” Colavita and Samuel T. Frisby Sr., retain their seats for another three-year term. All are Democrats.
Colavita, who is a former Lawrence mayor and school board president, was the top vote-getter in Lawrence with 7,439 votes. Cannon got 7,287 votes and Frisby got 6,950 votes. County-wide, Colavita got 69,592 votes; Cannon earned 70,216 votes; and Frisby received 67,210 votes.
Their Republican challengers, Michael Silvestri, Mary R. Walker and Cynthia Larsen, received 3,116 votes, 2,938 votes and 3,104 votes, respectively, from Lawrence voters. Countywide, Silvestri received 32,601 votes. Walker got 32,311 votes and Larsen earned 32,658 votes.
Finally, incumbent Democratic Freeholder Nina D. Melker got 8,027 votes from Lawrence voters on her way to earning 77,758 votes countywide to complete a one-year unexpired term that was created when former freeholder Anthony Verrelli was elevated to the state Assembly.