Democrats Hold On To Win 3 Seats On Moorestown Council

MOORESTOWN, NJ — A little more than two weeks after Election Day, Burlington County finalized the results in the 2020 elections Friday night. In Moorestown, the candidates who had held the lead since Nov. 3 were victorious in the final results.

Democrats Sue Mammarella, Dave Zipin and Jake VanDyken were elected to the three seats on Moorestown Council, defeating Republicans Vick Bobadilla, Doug Maute and Barbara Omert, according to the official results posted by the Burlington County Board of Elections Friday night.

Lauren Romano, Mick Weeks and Jack Fairchild were elected to the Moorestown Public School District Board of Education. All the winners will be sworn into their new seats in January.

Mammarella earned the most votes in the council race, garnering 7,133 votes. Zipin was next with 7,027. Van Dyken edged Bobadilla for the final seat by 261 votes. Van Dyken finished with 6,842 votes. Bobadilla had 6,581 votes, followed by Maute with 6,384 and Omert with 6,343.

Romano earned the most votes in the race for three open seats on the Board of Education at 7,011. Weeks was next with 6,504, followed by Fairchild with 5,170.

Sarah Rivera was fourth with 4,738 votes, followed by Julie Woodrow with 4,160, and Val Gallagher with 3,491.

In the end, 267,122 of the 344,034 registered voters in Burlington County cast ballots in the 2020 elections. Out of that total, 251,738 voted by mail, and there were 15,347 provisional ballots cast.

Mammarella, Zipin and VanDyken will join Moorestown Mayor Nicole Gillespie and Deputy Mayor Brian Donnelly to form a five-person council made up entirely of Democrats, completing a shift that began in 2018 when Gillespie and Donnelly were elected and joined Lisa Petriello in giving the Democrats a 3-2 edge on Moorestown Council. The split was previously 4-1 in favor of Republicans.

Transparency and the fiscal health of the township took center stage in the only forum between the two sides that took place in late September. Both were related to ways the township can help businesses succeed. Read more here: Moorestown Council Candidates Spar On Transparency, Fiscal Health

"Council should have more face-to-face interaction with the public and businesses," Omert said during that forum. "They should be more accessible to the public."

Maute said that if they were elected, the Republicans would hold listening sessions and office hours with residents.

"There will be a renewed focus on harnessing the power of social media and technology to transmit information to the public, an evaluation of the Township website to ensure information is easy to find, and the exploration of a resident feedback portal that allows citizens to track the status of their concerns," Maute said.

Van Dyken and Mammarella both said the township has improved on the transparency the township had previously, but there's room to grow. Mammarella said she would consider livestreaming committee meetings online and improving the township's website.

"During this time of social and economic crisis involving COVID-19, I believe it's more important than ever for residents to be able to rely upon an open and transparent government," Van Dyken said in his Patch profile, noting the importance of transparency both during and after the pandemic. "Whether it be emergency resources or just updates on the pandemic, the Moorestown community deserves to feel as safe and secure as possible, and Council leadership plays a central role in that."

"In partnership with groups like the Moorestown Business Association and bringing together the many successful business minds who call our community home, we need to figure out what the future of Moorestown looks like in terms of building a sustainable business model that encourages shopping local and explores new concepts that have worked in other communities around the country," Bobadilla said in his Patch profile.

The Democrats rated the township's fiscal health as "good," but said the township must be vigilant to keep it that way.

"We have not invested enough in infrastructure," Mammarella said. "Waiting for it to fail is not a plan. We also need to attract high quality businesses."

The Republicans have also attacked the current council's decision to borrow against the township's surplus to avoid raising taxes this year amid the coronavirus pandemic, saying the township "can't borrow against the surplus forever." Read more here: Moorestown Holds The Line On Taxes Amid Coronavirus Pandemic

All the candidates said they are not in favor of defunding the police department. Zipin said the real issue is race relations.

"Minorities feel discriminated against," Zipin said. "There's not a lot of opportunities to change the dynamics of the work force. "The police department has my full-throated support. I am going to say very clearly that I do not support defunding the police."