Stafford School Board Candidates Await Election Results

Update: The campaign of Christopher Fritz, Deborah M. Lyons, Gerald Simonelli and Erin Sharkey believe Fritz and Lyons have secured seats.

"The Community Together Wins team would like to congratulate Ms. Formica and hope that we can work together to further the district and bring an air of professionalism that will be a model for other boards," the campaign said.

MANAHAWKIN, NJ — Candidates in a crowded field continue to wait for official results in the Stafford Township Board of Education elections. As of Wednesday afternoon, Christopher Fritz, Deborah M. Lyons and Patricia Formica lead the voting for three, three-year positions.

Erin Sharkey ran unopposed for a one-year position.

Fritz, Lyons and Sharkey campaigned with Gerald Simonelli, a current board member also running for a three-year seat.

"While we still await the final tallies we want to thank all of our supporters as well as our competitors for taking part in one of the core functions of our republic," the candidates said. "We will have a statement as soon as we know final results. The current results are posted below."

Formica declared victory Wednesday morning.

"With 21 out of 21 districts in Stafford fully reporting, I am so excited to announce that I have won a seat on the board," she wrote. "I am looking forward to bringing my experience to my next 3 years on the board. I will continue to serve the community with gratitude and humility!"

The unofficial tally shows the following results:

• Christopher Fritz: 6,362
• Deborah M. Lyons: 5,673
• Patricia Formica: 4,581
• Gerald Simonelli: 4,265
• James Curcio: 3,332
• Gregory Guido: 2,904
• Kenneth Budinski: 1,891
• write-in: 101

There are a little over 49,000 Ocean County mail-in ballots to be counted as of Wednesday, County Clerk Scott A. Colabella said by email.

Those 49,000 do not include mail-in ballots that were postmarked Nov. 3 but have not arrived at the Board of Elections yet. Ballots postmarked by Nov. 3 and received at the Board of Elections no later than 8 p.m. on Nov. 10 will be counted, Colabella said.

The county has tallies 273,283 ballots so far, according to the Ocean County election results website. Read more: In Ocean County, 49K Votes Still To Be Counted

With reporting from Karen Wall/Patch

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