Chandler Pulls Ahead In West Morris Regional School Board Race

This post was last updated at 3 p.m. on Nov. 16.

The polls are closed and the ballots are cast and soon residents in Mendham, Chester and Long Valley will know who will be representing them on the West Morris Regional School Board.

A seat on the West Morris Regional School Board reserved for Chester Township is up for grabs, with Natasha Chandler and Marina Kontos looking to fill it.

James Schulok and Suzanne Bliesath are vying to represent Washington Township on the West Morris Regional Board of Education.

The seat on the West Morris Regional School Board reserved for Mendham Township is up for grabs, too, with Robert Stroebel looking to fill the seat uncontested.

Current tallies:

Chester Rep

• Natasha Chandler: 1,606
• Marina Kontos: 1,491

Washington Township Rep

• James Schulok: 3,642
• Suzanne Bliesath: 4,499

Mendham Township Rep

• Robert Strobel: 2,716

Subscribe to your local Patch newsletter. You can also have them delivered to your phone screen by downloading, or by visiting the Google Play store.

Since the change to this year's election was announced by Gov. Phil Murphy because of the coronavirus, there have been many questions about how the process will work.

Across Morris County, 292 of 301 precincts have reported results, which is approximately 97 percent. Tuesday was the last day ballots could be received in New Jersey. Provisional ballot tabulation began Wednesday. The issues in reporting continue to be no listing of what precincts are outstanding, so whether they are clustered in such a way that the impact the outcome of a close races is unknown.

"Every vote should be safe. Every vote should be secure. Every vote should be counted," Murphy said of the process.

All results are based off of unofficial tallies provided by the Morris County Clerk's Office. Results won't be official until they are certified. Certification is expected by Nov. 20.

See our full election coverage for New Jersey on our topic page.

Thanks for reading! Learn more about posting announcements or events to your local Patch site. Have a news tip you'd like to share? Or maybe you have a press release you would like to submit or a correction you'd like to request? Send an email to russ.crespolini@patch.com