BY WALTER ELLIOTT
NEWARK – It appears as of press time that a majority of participating voters have returned incumbents onto their respective Newark and Irvington boards of education April 16.
The Newark Schools Forward team of Helena Vinhas, Vereliz Santana and Dawn Y. Haynes each earned 20 percent of voters. Independent Debra Salters, perhaps benefitting from her dawn 1A ballot placement, received 11 percent of the vote. The other five challengers each received vote percentages in the single digits.
“The Children’s Team” of Shante Barr, Annette L. Beasley and John F. Brown each garnered 30 percent or slightly less of the Irvington Board of Education vote. Independent challenger Conrad McPherson received 11 percent of the vote.
The above unofficial tallies, as posted by Essex County Clerk Chris Durkin’s Election Division Office 9:34 p.m. Tuesday, came from 179 voting machines of 209 deployed in polling stations in both municipalities plus any Vote By Mail Ballots that have been so far received and recorded.
Essexclerk.com has not posted any votes for prospective write-in candidates.
The results are courtesy from 5,463 registered voters from Newark and Irvington. They amount to 2.77 percent of the county’s voting pool of 197,462 among all 22 municipalities.
The results also show that the candidates selected to fill an overall seven BOE seats were on the platforms closely aligned with their political “Moving Newark Forward” and “Team Irvington Strong” tickets shepherded by respective mayors Ras Baraka and Anthony “Tony” Vauss.
Although the BOE teams are non-partisan, their association with their same-town political parties allow them access to the latter’s endorsements, “Get Out the Vote” logistics and other resources.
This is also the first time that the respective Newark Public Schools and Irvington Public Schools budgets were not up for voters’ say. The state has allowed public school districts to forgo posting budget questions on the ballot unless the proposed spending will exceed a two percent budget increase cap.
The following figures are unofficial until April 30.
The fortnight is first for any Vote By Mail Ballots that were postmarked or deposited before 8 p.m. April 16 arrive at Essex County’s Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Justice Complex on or before April 19. The two week pre-certification period is to allow any time for challenges and/or recounts.
In NEWARK, Three 3-Year Terms
Newark Schools Forward: (all Incumbents)
Helena Vinhas; 2,636 for 22.33 percent of the vote
Vereliz Santana: 2,619 for 22.09
Dawn Y. Haynes 2,453 for 20.69
Saving Our Children
Debra Salters 1,342 or 11.32
Newark Schools Can Be Better
Sheila Montague 993 or 8.57
Listen, Learn, Lead
Latoya Jackson 754 or 6.36
It Takes a Village
Muta El-Amin 374 or 3.15
Che J.T. Colter 356 or 3.0
Parents Stand on Business
Jimmie White 331 or 2.7
One Unexpired Term
NSF – Kanileah Anderson 3,020 or 100 percent
In IRVINGTON, Three 3-Year Terms
The Children’s Team
Shante Barr 691 or 30.82 percent
Annette L. Beasley 654 or 29.17
John F. Brown 644 or 28.62
Persistent, Passionate, Purposeful
Conrad McPherson 253 or 11.28
