Moorestown Council Election Results For 2020

See Updated Moorestown Election Results Here

MOORESTOWN, NJ — Polls have closed and vote totals are being tabulated in Tuesday’s elections. Check back with Patch for updated results of the race for three open seats on Moorestown Council. Results will remain unofficial pending certification.

With three of the five council seats up for grabs, control of township council is on the line. Three new council members will be seated in January, as Council Members Victoria Napolitano, Mike Locatell and Lisa Petriello all opted not to run for re-election.

Democrats Dave Zipin, Sue Mammarella and Jake VanDyken are running against Republicans, Barbara Omert, Doug Maute and Vick Bobadilla for the three open, four-year seats.

The latest results, according to the Burlington County Board of Elections, can be found below. All votes are vote-by-mail, and no provisional ballots are reflected in the results below:

Moorestown Council (30,583):

Dave Zipin: 5,836

Sue Mammarella: 5,900

Jake Van Dyken: 5,678

Barbara Omert: 4,316

Doug Maute: 4,363

Vick Bobadilla: 4,473

However, these are also not all the vote-by-mail ballots, according to Burlington County spokesman David Levinsky.

"The board of elections is still counting and will continue counting until 11 p.m. tonight," Levinsky said at 9:15 p.m. "The Board of Elections will also be accepting ballots from the mail for the next seven days and will count those postmarked on Nov. 3. They will then count provisional ballots cast today."

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Moorestown Mayor Nicole Gillespie and Deputy Mayor Brian Donnelly are the only two council members not up for re-election, and they are both Democrats. A Democratic sweep in the elections would give Democrats all five council seats.

A Republican sweep would shift the balance of power back to the Republican Party three years after Democrats gained control of the council during the Blue Wave that struck Burlington County in 2018.

Transparency and the fiscal health of the township took center stage in the only forum between the two sides that took place in late September. Both were related to ways the township can help businesses succeed. Read more here: Moorestown Council Candidates Spar On Transparency, Fiscal Health

"Council should have more face-to-face interaction with the public and businesses," Omert said during that forum. "They should be more accessible to the public."

Maute said that if they were elected, the Republicans would hold listening sessions and office hours with residents.

“There will be a renewed focus on harnessing the power of social media and technology to transmit information to the public, an evaluation of the Township website to ensure information is easy to find, and the exploration of a resident feedback portal that allows citizens to track the status of their concerns,” Maute said.

Van Dyken and Mammarella both said the township has improved on the transparency the township had previously, but there's room to grow. Mammarella said she would consider livestreaming committee meetings online and improving the township's website.

“During this time of social and economic crisis involving COVID-19, I believe it’s more important than ever for residents to be able to rely upon an open and transparent government,” Van Dyken said in his Patch profile, noting the importance of transparency both during and after the pandemic. “Whether it be emergency resources or just updates on the pandemic, the Moorestown community deserves to feel as safe and secure as possible, and Council leadership plays a central role in that.”

“In partnership with groups like the Moorestown Business Association and bringing together the many successful business minds who call our community home, we need to figure out what the future of Moorestown looks like in terms of building a sustainable business model that encourages shopping local and explores new concepts that have worked in other communities around the country,” Bobadilla said in his Patch profile.

The Democrats rated the township's fiscal health as "good," but said the township must be vigilant to keep it that way.

"We have not invested enough in infrastructure," Mammarella said. "Waiting for it to fail is not a plan. We also need to attract high quality businesses."

The Republicans have also attacked the current council’s decision to borrow against the township’s surplus to avoid raising taxes this year amid the coronavirus pandemic, saying the township "can't borrow against the surplus forever." Read more here: Moorestown Holds The Line On Taxes Amid Coronavirus Pandemic

All the candidates said they are not in favor of defunding the police department. Zipin said the real issue is race relations.

"Minorities feel discriminated against,” Zipin said. “There's not a lot of opportunities to change the dynamics of the work force. "The police department has my full-throated support. I am going to say very clearly that I do not support defunding the police."

Voting in New Jersey was primarily vote-by-mail, but residents came out to vote in-person on Election Day.

At the town hall in Moorestown, there were few voters in line for in-person voting at 11 a.m., but some were dropping off their ballots at the secure drop box next door at the library.

“As long as it’s done the right way, it doesn’t matter how you vote,” resident Maria Pratsinakis said.

“It’s a little less personal, but it was easy,” said Tyler Gabriel, who voted with Heather Loprano. “I prefer to vote in person because I’m a little more certain my vote will count correctly. I don’t trust the mail. Even if there is no fraud, things can still get lost.”

A Moorestown resident who only wished to be identified as “Nick, age 24” voted weeks ago using the secure ballot drop box at the town hall. He voted for Democrats across the board, noting that when it came to president, he wrote in Bernie Sanders’ name.

“If I was in a swing state, I would’ve voted for Biden, but I think his policies fall short of the progressive action this country needs,” he said. “We need a Green New Deal and Medicare For All, and he’s not very strong on that.”

He said the Black Lives Matter movement is the most positive thing to come out of this year. He went to a protest in Asbury Park, and called it “empowering.”

“It was the largest mass protest movement in history, and I think that put pressure on politicians. We need more of that and less of the partisan divide.”

Links to Patch's profile for each of the candidates can be found below:

• Sue Mammarella
• Jake Van Dyken
• Barbara Omert
• Doug Maute
• Vick Bobadilla
• Dave Zipin

For full coverage of the 2020 election in New Jersey, go here: New Jersey Elections 2020

Read more here: NJ Election 2020: President, Congress, Local Election Results