HOWELL – In unofficial results, Republicans are on track to win seats for the Howell Township council.
Results are called “unofficial” because provisional ballots and last-minute mail-in votes still had to be sorted. The official results come a few weeks after the polls close. However, the gap between one party and another is four digits and any changes in the count won’t be big enough to alter who won the election.
This year’s election had a total of six candidates fighting for three seats. Democratic Councilman John Bonevich was seeking re-election. His running mates were Democrats Denise King and Randy Bishop. The three Republican candidates were Susan Fischer, Fred Gasior and Ian Nadel.
As of, November 10, Gasior received 9,741 votes representing 18.93% of the unofficial vote count. Filling the remaining two seats is Fischer with 9,928 votes and Nadel with 9,710 votes.
Incumbent Bonevich will not be returning as a member of the council, with a result of 7,540 votes. Bishop received 7,200 votes and King received 7,304 votes.
Currently, the Howell Township council is majority Republican, although Mayor Theresa Berger is a Democrat. Both Republican Deputy Mayor Pamela Richmond and Republican Councilwoman Suzanne Brennan did not seek re-election.
A major focus of this year’s campaigns was overdevelopment within the Township, with all the candidates stating they support the notion in protecting Howell’s land. Over the years residents have fought against “mega-warehouses” being built in town. Warehouses have become a topic of several past meetings and will most likely continue in the future.
In the Howell Township Board of Education race, four candidates were fighting to fill three, full-term seats. Two current members who were seeking re-election are Laurence Gurman and Cristy Mangano. Two other candidates are Alexandria Langenberger and Joseph Mauer Jr.
At this time, Mauer is leading with 9,032 votes representing 28.74% of the unofficial vote count. Langenberger, who received 8,841 votes, and Mangano, who received 7,947 votes, will fill the other two seats. Gurman received 5,314 votes.
There is one full-term seat open for the Howell representative for the Freehold Regional High School Board of Education. Incumbent Marc Parisi was the only candidate running for the seat. He received 12,022 votes.
