Schools

Provisional Ballots Do Not Change Outcome of School Board Election

Tom Oves, Jacqueline McAlister and Jim Bauer win three-year terms on the Ocean City Board of Education.

An updated count of votes that includes provisional ballots shows no change in the outcome of the local Ocean City Board of Education election.

Ocean City voters returned two incumbents to the local Board of Education and picked one newcomer.

Jim Bauer won his seventh three-year term on the board, and Tom Oves was re-elected for his second. Jacqueline McAlister finished second in voting to win her first term.

Find out what's happening in Ocean Citywith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Voters picked from four candidates to fill three full three-year terms on the board. The most recent vote count is as follows:

: 3,949 
Jacqueline A. McAlister: 2,902
H. James Bauer: 2,611
Peter V. Madden: 2,571

Find out what's happening in Ocean Citywith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Election-night results were as follows

: 3,326 
Jacqueline A. McAlister: 2,412
H. James Bauer: 2,198
Peter V. Madden: 2,092

Tiffany Prettyman ran unopposed to complete the final two years of Antwan McClellan's unexpired term. She received 3,874 votes including provisional ballots. McClellan stepped down from the board when he was elected to City Council.

In the aftermath of Tropical Storm Sandy, first responders and displaced voters were permitted to cast ballots by provisional ballots in any New Jersey polling place or any New Jersey County Clerk’s Office.

The county clerk has received provisional ballots cast by Cape May County voters in Burlington County. Next week, the county will determine if provisional ballots were cast by Cape May County voters in any of the other 19 counties. If so, they will be reviewed and if the proper determination is made by the Board of Elections, they will be counted.

By executive order, mail-in ballots postmarked on or before Nov. 5 and received through Nov. 19 may be counted. The executive order also permitted certain voters the opportunity to vote by electronic means, either by email or fax. Voted ballots by electronic means accepted and counted through Nov. 9.

Election results are unofficial and will remain so until after Nov. 19.

The Ocean City Board of Education voted unanimously in January to approve a resolution that moved the date of the annual school elections from April to November. The measure also eliminated public voting on school budgets that fall under the state's 2 percent cap on tax levy increases.

Gov. Chris Christie had signed a bill earlier in January that gave school districts the ability to move the election to the same day as the general election in November.

The law’s supporters said moving the vote to November could increase voter turnout as the city selects its school board members — just 10.71 percent of the city's registered voters turned out for Ocean City's uncontested elections in April 2011 (when the winning candidates had about 700 votes apiece).

Voter turnout in Ocean City for the November election was about six times greater. 

Here are voter turnout totals for Ocean City broken down by ward and district:

District Ballots Cast Registered Voters Voter Turnout Ocean City Ward 1 District 1 305 452 67.48 % Ocean City Ward 1 District 2 242 374 64.71 % Ocean City Ward 1 District 3 437 627 69.70 % Ocean City Ward 1 District 4 419 645 64.96 % Ocean City Ward 1 District 5 255 408 62.50 % Ocean City Ward 2 District 1 242 402 60.20 % Ocean City Ward 2 District 2 264 488 54.10 % Ocean City Ward 2 District 3 233 444 52.48 % Ocean City Ward 2 District 4 247 459 53.81 % Ocean City Ward 2 District 5 139 262 53.05 % Ocean City Ward 3 District 1 421 663 63.50 % Ocean City Ward 3 District 2 190 302 62.91 % Ocean City Ward 3 District 3 244 433 56.35 % Ocean City Ward 3 District 4 284 460 61.74 % Ocean City Ward 3 District 5 243 440 55.23 % Ocean City Ward 4 District 1 280 454 61.67 % Ocean City Ward 4 District 2 221 365 60.55 % Ocean City Ward 4 District 3 330 538 61.34 % Ocean City Ward 4 District 4 364 616 59.09 % Ocean City Ward 4 District 5 289 440 65.68 %


 


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