Williams, 2 Newcomers Lead Toms River School Board Race

TOMS RIVER, NJ — The lone incumbent and two newcomers appear to have captured three seats on the Toms River Regional Board of Education.

Unofficial results published by the Ocean County Board of Elections have Lisa Contessa leading with 13,042 votes, followed by incumbent Michele Williams with 10,739 and newcomer Ashley Palmiere with 10,715 votes. The three led a field of nine candidates who had been seeking the three-year, unpaid terms on the board.

Ken Londregan, who ran with Contessa and Palmiere, has 10,485 votes, 230 behind Palmiere. Rachel Remelgado, who ran with Williams, trails Palmiere by more than 700 votes with 8,981 votes. Bridget Maillard has 8,933 votes, and her running mates, former board members Robert Onofrietti and Christopher Raimann, have 8,128 votes and 8,001 votes respectively. Daynne Glover, who ran with Williams and Remelgado, has 7,603 votes.

All vote totals are unofficial until they are certified by election officials and the Ocean County Clerk's office. The vote totals could yet change as election officials have to count mail-in ballots that are received by 8 p.m on Nov. 10; provisional ballots cast by voters who went to polling locations on Tuesday will be counted once they confirm mail-in votes. It's unclear how many ballots remain outstanding out of Toms River's 69,788 registered voters.

Ocean County Clerk Scott A. Colabella said the county still has little over 49,000 ballots to count as of Wednesday, a number that does not include mail-in ballots that were postmarked Nov. 3 and received at the Board of Elections no later than 8 p.m. on Nov. 10.

The Asbury Park Press reported 302,646 ballots had been returned to the Board of Elections as of 8:30 a.m. Tuesday. Of those, 273,100 ballots had been counted as of early Wednesday, meaning nearly 30,000 remained uncounted. There were 430,560 ballots mailed to eligible voters in Ocean County, the report said.

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When the board reorganizes in January, the new members and current ones will be faced with the ongoing efforts to get students back into the schools in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic, along with the impact of S2, including an anticipated $7 million in cuts for the 2021-22 school budget and a required 2 percent increase in the property tax levy.

The district has the added pressures of the coronavirus pandemic, which has required additional spending for mitigation measures.

The district also is in the process of seeking a new superintendent, after Superintendent David Healy announced he will retire as of Jan. 1.

"We need to cut waste, while managing a well-rounded quality educational experience for our children," Contessa has said.

"Our community is suffering losses that impact our students and teachers while our taxes continue to rise," Palmiere said.

For full coverage of the 2020 election in New Jersey, go here: New Jersey Elections 2020

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