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New Jersey and Union County Election Tallies

In New Jersey, Senator Barack Obama (D) won the 15 electoral votes for President with 57 percent of the popular vote (2,062,583) over the Senator John McCain who received 1,534,718 votes (42 percent). Independent Ralph Nader received 1 percent of the vote and independent Bob Barr received 0.2 percent of the vote. Nationwide with 95 percent reporting, Sen. Obama garnered 52 percent of the 119 million votes cast compared to 46 percent for Sen. McCain.

Democrats increased their majority control of the 100-member Senate on Tuesday, by winning at least 56 seats with four more contests yet to be decided in close races in Alaska, Oregon, Minnesota and Georgia.

Incumbent U.S Sen. Frank Lautenberg for New Jersey (for the past 26 years, except for a two year hiatus) breezed to reelection for a fifth term of six years over his Republican opponent Dick Zimmer. Mr. Lautenberg received 1.8 million votes (56 percent) compared to Mr. Zimmer’s 1.4 million votes (44 percent).

In the 435 member House of Representatives, Democrats won 251 seats and are leading in five. Republicans won 171 seats and are leading in six. After all contests are settled, Democrats could have a net gain of up to 20 seats. Two Louisiana seats won't be decided until December because hurricanes postponed their primaries until Tuesday.

Democrats won 7 of the 11 Governors seats up for election, capturing Washington, North Carolina, Missouri, Montana, West Virgina, New Hampshire and Delaware. Republicans won governorships in Indiana, Vermont, North Dakota and Utah.

In the race locally for Congress in the Seventh District, State Senator Leonard Lance of Hunterdon County defeated Asw. Linda Stender of Fanwood. Mr. Lance received 51 percent of the votes (142,004), Mrs. Stender received 42 percent (116,171) and Independent candidate Michael Hsing received 6 percent (15,826). Independents Dean Greco received 3,008 votes and Thomas Abrams was at 2,408.

Democrats won 8 of the Congressional seats in New Jersey compared to 5 for the Republicans.

In the special election to fill the abandoned seat in the New Jersey 20th Legislative District due to the resignation of former Asm. Neil Cohen (D) of Roselle, who resigned upon being investigated for child pornography charges, Democrat Annette Quijano of Elizabeth easily defeated Republican challenger Linda Gaglione of Union in the heavily Democratic district. Ms. Quijano received 33,677 votes (71 percent) compare to 13,635 votes (29 percent) for Ms. Gaglions.

New Jersey had two public questions on the ballot. Question #1 requiring voter approval for borrowing was approved by 57 percent. Question #2 to change the Constitution for selecting certain judges was defeated by 55 percent against.

In Union County, voter turnout was approximately 70 percent with 209,380 votes cast from 299,762 registered voters in a population of approximately 515,000. County voters favored Barak Obama (D) by 63.5 percent compared to 35.6 percent for John McCain (R). They favored Sen. Lautenberg (D) by 61.3 percent compared to Dick Zimmer’s (R) 36.8 percent. County voters favored Leonard Lance (R) with 49.7 percent to Linda Stender’s (D) 45.1 percent for Congress.

In the Union County race for the three Freeholder seats, incumbent Democrats swept to victory over their Republican opponents by substantial margins. Victors Angel Estrada of Elizabeth with 100,372, Nancy Ward of Linden with 99,393 and Rick Proctor of Rahway with 97,368 defeated John Russitano of Westfield with 62,599, Michael Yakubov of Roselle Park with 61,482 and Joseph Franchino of Berkeley Heights with 61,386 votes.

In municipal races for Union County, New Jersey, the results are as follows:

Berkeley Heights Township Council (Three Years, Vote for two), Republicans Bruno and Perna won the two seats. Votes: Joseph G. Bruno (R) 3,342; Elaine Perna (R) 3,285; Alexandra Chirinos (D) 2,908; Charles Hasz (D) 2,761

Clark Township Mayor (Four Years) was won by Sal Bonaccorso (R,I) with 4,627 votes over Gary Slodowski (D) 3093 votes.

Clark Township Council (Three Years, Vote for three): The winners are Alvin Barr (R) 4304, Sheila Whiting (R) 4286 and Angel Albanese (R) 4237 defeating Diane Lanigan (D) 2956, Nancy Sheridan (D) 2911 and Nancy Shanahan (D) 2903.

Cranford Township Council (Three Years, Vote for two), the vote is split with winners being Mark Dugan (R) and Daniel Aschenbach (D) 5,463. The tallies are: Daniel Aschenbach (D) 5,463; Kevin Illing (D) 5,364; Christopher Drew (R) 5,451 and Mark Dugan (R) 5,517.

Elizabeth Mayor (Four Years), Chris Bollwage (D,I) with 17,675 votes defeated Albert Martin (R) with 4,473 votes.

Elizabeth Council (Four Years, Vote for three): All were unopposed with the tallies being Edward Jackus (D) 16,339, Patricia Perkins-Auguste (D) 16,354 and Frank J. Cuesta (D) 16,690.

Fanwood Council (Three Years, Vote for two): Joan Wheeler (D,I) with 1875votes and Russell Huegel (D) with 1750 votes defeated Robert Manduca (R) with 1682 votes and Mike Lee Szuch (R) with 1668 votes.

Garwood Council (Three Years, Vote for two): Jonathan Linken (D) with 897 votes and Louis Petruzzelli (D) with 920 votes defeated Timothy O. Hak (R) with 879 votes and Patricia Quattrocchi (R) with 861 votes.

In Hillside, there was no election this year.

Kenilworth Council (3 years, vote for two): Kevin Leary, Jr. (R) with 1773 votes and Scott Klinder (R) with 1729 votes defeated Robert Beiner (D) with 1303 votes and Darrin F. McMahon (D) with 1333 votes. For Council, 1 year unexpired term, Salvatore Candarella (R) with 1782 votes defeated Cheryl Pantina (D) with 1331 votes.

Linden Council (3 Years): 4th Ward unopposed winner is Derek Armstead (D) with 1,343 votes: 6th Ward: Robert Sadowski (D) with 493 votes defeated Diane Wilverding (Ind) with 424 votes: 8th Ward: Michele Yamakaitis (D) with 1,104 votes defeated Elaine Lubas (Ind) with 194 votes: 10th Ward: Richard Puschel (Dem) with 914 votes defeated Bruce M. Howe (Ind) with 694 votes.

Mountainside Council (3 Years, Vote for two): Unopposed winners Keith Turner (R) with 2137 votes and Paul Mirabelli (R) with 2118 votes.

New Providence Council (3 Years, Vote for two): Armand Galluccio (R) with 3,339 votes and Vincas Vyzas (R) with 3,162 votes defeated Norman Samodovitz (D) with 1,638 votes.


Plainfield Council (Four Years): Council-At-Large winner is Annie C. McWilliams (D) with 11,633 votes: 1st Ward (unopposed, 2 year) winner is William Reid (D) with 2,436 votes: 3rd Ward (unopposed, 4 year) winner is Adrian Mapp (D) with 3,329 votes.

Rahway Council (Four Years): 1st Ward: Bobby Akbar (D) 1,099 defeated Lawrence Bodine (R) 314: 2nd Ward: Michael Cox (D) 1,058 defeated Ken Lund (R) 470: 3rd Ward: Jerome Scaturo (D) 1,007 defeated Bryan DesRochers (R) 619: 4th Ward (unopposed): winner David Brown (D) 1,555: 5th Ward: Jennifer Wenson Maier (D) 898 defeated James Pekarofski (R) 526: 6th Ward: Samson David Steinman (D) 974 defeated Kevin Retcho (R) 657.

Roselle Council (3 Years, all unopposed): 1st Ward: Yves François Aubourg (D) 1,046: 3rd Ward: Cecilia Dallis Ricks (D) 1,263

Roselle Park Council (3 Years): At-Large, Carl Hokanson (D) with 2,523 votes defeated J. Ricky Badillo (R) with 2,432 votes: 1st Ward, Laurence Dinardo (D) with 507 votes defeated Richard Huxford (R) with 471 votes.

Scotch Plains Mayor and Council (Four Years)
Nancy Malool (R) for Mayor with 6,126 vote defeated Kevin Glover (D) with 5,415 votes: Mary De Paola (R) for Council with 5,875 votes defeated Theresa Mullen (D) with 5,385 votes.

Springfield Council (3 Years, vote for one): Hugh Keffer (D) with 3,050 votes defeated Jerry Fernandez (R) 2,843 and Steven Grau (Ind) 746.

Summit Council (3 Years): 1st Ward unopposed winner Ellen Dickson (R) received 2,463 votes: 2nd Ward winner Michael Vernotico (R) with 2,408 votes defeated Terri Tauber (D) 2,041.

Union Township Council (3 Years unopposed)winner Joseph Florio (D) received 11,964 votes.

Westfield (No election this year) 

Winfield Council: (3 Years, Vote for one); Oneida Braithwaite (D) with 442 votes defeated Robert Reilly (R) with 280 votes.

Angel Estrada (D,I) 100,372 - Rick Proctor (D,I) 97,368 - Nancy Ward (D,I) 99,393
John Russitano (R) 62,599 - Michael Yakubov (R) 61,482 - Joseph Franchino (R) 61,386

The Scotch Plains-Fanwood Times and the League of Women Voters will sponsor a candidates forum on Thursday evening, October 23, 2008, for those running for Mayor of Scotch Plains and for those seeking the open seat on the Township Council. The forum, which will be televised and recorded for rebroadcast on TV-34, will begin at 8:00 p.m. in the council chambers and run for about 75 minutes. This is the only date set for the forum. No other dates will be considered. All candidates are invited to participate and are urged today to set aside the evening of Oct. 23 for this event. The ground rules and format will be similar to forums held in 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002 and 2004, with questions, answers and rebuttals rotated between candidates of each party and time seta side for closing statements from each candidate. As in 2000 and 2004, the two candidates for township council will spend 20-30 minutes answering questions before the two mayoral candidates spend about 35-45 minutes answering questions. Suggestions for topics and/or questions are welcome and can be sent to press@goleader.com.

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