Politics & Government
Watchung Turnout at 55 Percent in Tuesday's Voting
Unofficial totals include some of the votes cast at county clerk's office, mail-in ballots.
The current tallies on Watchung voting from Tuesday's general election are below. The tallies have been updated in the local races to include ballots cast trough the county clerk's office under provisions made for voting by email, fax or at the county offices because of Hurricane Sandy.
It's important to note the results will not be officials until after the Friday deadline for mail-in ballots.
The voting total reflect just 55 percent of Watchung registered voters, an abnormally low turnout for a presidential election. Somerset County Clerk Brett Radi said he believes the difficulties caused by Hurricane Sandy for many families and the ongoing power outage may have suppressed the turnout this year.
Find out what's happening in Watchung-Green Brookwith free, real-time updates from Patch.
Ballots outstanding could affect the outcome of the race for one of the three, three-year seats on the Watchung Borough Board of Education, where Tiffany Brigante currently holds a 16-vote edge over Rhea Williams. John Malchow and James Rhyner received enough votes to be re-elected.
Georgia Glasser-Nehls ran for the balance of an unexpired term unopposed, and Barry Hunsinger ran unopposed for the borough's seat on the Watchung Hills Regional Board of Education.
Find out what's happening in Watchung-Green Brookwith free, real-time updates from Patch.
Borough voters also weighed in on the non-binding referendum on the proposed library expansion and community center project, which failed to gain voter support. Voters opposing the plan cast 1,110 votes against it, vs. 984 "yes" votes.
Borough Council
Thomas Franklin* (R) 1,680 Deb Joren* (R) 1,674Watchung Borough Board of Education (3-year terms)
John Malchow* 1,146 Rhea Williams* 539 Tiffany Brigante* 555 James Rhyner* 1,086Other races
Votes President Barack Obama* (D) 975 Mitt Romney (R) 1,432 James Harris 2 Gary Johnson (L) 13 Ross Anderson 7 Jill Stein 3 Senator Robert Menendez* (D) 917 Joe Kyrillos (R) 1,346 Robert Turksavage 2 David Dranikoff 7 Gregory Pason 3 Kenneth Kaplan 11 Gwen Diakos 1 Ken Wolski 6 House of Representatives 7th Dist. Upendra Chivukula (D) 821 Leonard Lance* (R) 1,402 Dennis Breen 17 Patrick McKnight 13 County Clerk Joan Pritchard (D) 837 Brett Radi* (R) 1,326 Board of Chosen Freeholders Anthony Pranzatelli (D) 802 William Galtieri (D) 778 Patrick Scaglione* (R) 1,344 Mark Caliguire* (D) 1,287Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.
