Results Official, Voter Turnout 48.7%: First-time Dennis Democrats Win Seats, Republicans Stay in Control Elsewhere

COURT HOUSE – Just under half of Cape May County’s 63,715 registered voters cast ballots Nov. 4. Of those, 27,850 went to the polls while 3,018 voted by mail. The following are official results provided by the Cape May County Clerk. Voting machines and materials are impounded until Nov. 19 which is the deadline for which a petition for recount (of the voting machine totals and paper ballots), a recheck (of the voting machine totals) or a challenge to the election may be filed in Superior Court, according to County Clerk Rita Fulginiti.
Locally, at the top of the ticket for U.S. Senate, Republican Jeff Bell received 16,178 votes while Democrat incumbent Cory Booker received 11,572. Booker won reelection with 968,320 compared to Bell’s 722,879.
Republican U.S. Rep. Frank LoBiondo received 20,165 votes in county, while Democrat William Hughes Jr. received 9,580. LoBiondo prevailed in the district with 104,166 to Hughes’ 62,288. LoBiondo will begin his 11th term in the House in January.
The official tally for Dennis Township Committee placed two first-time Democrats into seats on the governing body. Provisional ballots, counted Nov. 7, boosted results. Donald Tozer had 1,117 votes. Democrat Lisa Salimbene had 1,109 votes while Republican incumbent Frank Germanio received 1,108. Julie DeRose, Germanio’s running mate had 1,004, and was out of the race.
Middle Township Committee remained in Republican control with Mayor Timothy Donohue’s victory over Democrat Samuel Kelly, 2,901 to 2,018.
In Lower Township Council race the three-member Republican slate outpolled independents, and will control the governing body, although Mayor Michael Beck, an independent, will continue in office.
Ward 1, Republican Thomas Conrad received 919 while Johnnie Walker got 559 and Joseph Will got 192.
Ward 2 Republican David Perry received 1,396 votes to incumbent James P. Neville with 765.
Ward 3 Republican Erik Simonsen garnered 1,638 to independent Glenn Douglass’ 692.
Cape May’s non-partisan City Council race, where three seats were open, was won by Jerome Inderweis Jr., 635, Beatrice Pessagno, 605, and Shaine Meier, 597. John Van De Vaarst received 392 and Charles Hendricks received 379.
Upper Township Committee Republican Jeffrey L. Pierson won his first election with 2,626 votes. Incumbent Antonio Inserra received 1,118.
Woodbine Mayor William Pikolycky, a Republican, who ran unopposed, received 429 votes. New members of Borough Council, also Republicans, Hector Cruz, 281, and David Bennett, 313, outpolled incumbent Douglas Watkins, 259, and Manuel Gonzalez, 195.
Uncontested races took place in Cape May Point, North Wildwood, and Stone Harbor.
Similarly, Republican Freeholders Will Morey and Kristine Gabor will return to the five-member, all-GOP board in January having received 19,733 and 20,051 votes, respectively.
Republican Sheriff Gary Schaffer, who also had no challenger, will begin his new term having received 21,378 votes.
In Cape May Point, Borough Commissioner Robert Mullock received 90 votes.
North Wildwood City Council 1st Ward will remain with David Del Conte, 572. 2nd Ward remains with Republican Kellyann Tolomeo, 383, and Republican Joseph Rullo, won the one-year unexpired term with 374 votes.
Stone Harbor Borough Council Republican members Joselyn Rich, 224, and Karen Lane, 212, will return to their seats in January.
Local questions
Voters in Cape May, West Cape May and Lower Township rejected modification of tax allocation for Lower Cape May Regional School District by 5,642 to 2,080. The formula is based on property tax valuations for each municipality.
West Wildwood voters approved, 153-119, a $495,000 capital improvement expenditure, to permit $470,250 in bonds or notes to finance various equipment, furniture and a police vehicle. The ordinance was adopted May 20, 2013.
Statewide Questions
Voters statewide approved constitutional amendments.
Allowing the court to order pretrial detention of a person in a criminal case, (yes, 850,085, no, 528,438). In county the tally was 15,263 yes, 9,194 no.
Raised the percentage, to 6 from 4, as of July 1, 2019 for funds dedicated to open space, farmland and historic preservation, and changing existing dedication for water programs, underground storage tanks and hazardous site cleanups, (yes, 880,241, no, 485,509). In county the tally was 13,833 yes, 10,671 no.
Voters Select School Board Members
Voters cast ballots Nov. 4 for boards of education. Statements of Determination of the Election will be going out next week to boards of education and local governing bodies. Certificates of Election for the successful candidates will be going out next week for distribution by the board of education secretaries and municipal clerks.
The following are official results from the Cape May County Clerk:
Avalon: Vote for two, three-year full term
Craig Worton, 354
The election resulted in one successful write-in candidate for the Avalon Board of Education – Lois Scarpa, 54 votes, who has accepted the position and will join Craig Worton on the Avalon Board of Education! There was no petition filed for that office.
Cape May: Vote for three, three-year full term
Sharon Lee Kustra, 603, Tom Rippman, 610, Trudy Grogan, 592
Cape May Point: Vote for one, three-year full term
Alice Gibson, 99
Dennis Township: Vote for three, three-year full term
Robert Bonnet, 750, Jamie Burrows, 774, Nichol L. Hoff , 899, James J. Manlandro Jr., 948, Sara M. Teefy, 610
Vote for one, one year unexpired
Jennifer Hand , 1,047, Patricia L. Ziolkowski, 440
Lower Cape May Regional
Lower Township: Vote for two, three-year full term
Robert Osborn, 2,249, Thomas Connelly Jr., 2,806, Christopher Vassar, 2,614
West Cape May: Vote for one, three-year full term
Kathleen Elwell, 266
Lower Township Elementary: Vote for three, three-year full term
Jonathan M. Vile, 1,566, Joseph Jackson, 1,376, Thomas Ottaviano, 1,436, Janet Ann Herman, 1,346, Patricia M. Smith, 2,185, Monica M. Divito, 1,292, Joseph T. McKenna, 912, Gary Douglass, 2,036
Middle Township: Vote for three, three-year full term
Dennis M. Roberts, 2,083, Robert Bakley II, 2,112, Linda Elia Koch, 1,304, Melanie T. Collins, 1,570, Gloria Jean Hodges, 2,566
North Wildwood: Vote for three, three-year full term
Scott M. McCracken, 648, Michael J. Brown Sr., 560, Charles Burns, 569
Ocean City: Vote for three, three-year full term
Cecilia Gallelli-Keyes, 2,150, Joseph S. Clark, Jr., 2,189, Michael Allan James, 2,072, Dale F. Braun, Jr., 1,742
Sea Isle City: Vote for two, three-year full term
Daniel A. Tumolo, 443, Ellen Ramsey, 444
Stone Harbor: Vote for two, three-year full term
David Hoy, 231, Charles C. Krafczek, 177
Upper Township: Vote for three, three-year full term
Debra L. McLees, 1,930, Rachel Mammele, 1,845, Andrea Olenik-Hipkins, 1,794
West Cape May: Vote for one, three-year full term
Thomas TJ Belasco, 269
West Wildwood: Vote for two, three-year full term
Robert L. Kilgore, 122, April Katrina Howard, 146
Wildwood: Vote for three, three-year full term
Kelly Phillips, 356, Jacqueline Martinez, 321, Lynn Quinlan, 308
Vote for one, two-year full term
Brandy M. DeMarzo, 377
Wildwood Crest: Vote for one, three-year full term
Joseph Schiff, 541
Woodbine: Vote for three, three-year full term
Victoria London, 200, Janita Hutchinson, 216, Miriam Vives-Rivera, 223
See official results from Cape May County Clerk here: http://goo.gl/p5OG6M.