WESTFIELD — Westfield residents took to the polls on Tuesday to cast their votes to fill three, three year terms on the local board of education.
On Tuesday night and into Wednesday morning, the Union County Clerk’s office was reporting incomplete and unofficial results that showed newcomer Julie Steinberg as the evening’s top candidate. The county’s results include any mail-in ballots that were received by the time the polls closed at 8 p.m., but remained incomplete due to the fact that ballots from one of Westfield’s polling places have not yet been tallied.
As of Wednesday afternoon, with 100 percent of districts reporting, Ms. Steinberg, a mother who frequently advocates for stronger special-education services, had received 2,345 votes. Sonal Patel, this year’s board president, earned 2,141 votes, and Leila Morrelli, this year’s other incumbent candidate, garnered 2,036. Candidates Brad Schaeffer, Lindsay Bezalel and Mark Shore finished out Tuesday night’s proceedings with 1,266, 1,762 and 1,154 votes, respectively.
Tuesday’s election marked the second consecutive off-season vote for the district since the board chose to move its selection process out of the November cycle in 2022. At the time, then-Board President Brendan Galligan announced that moving the election would allow the district to prevent additional staff layoffs by getting out from under the state’s mandated 2-percent tax-levy increase cap and putting the budget — or at least part of it — to a general vote.
According to the county’s unofficial results, voters approved the district’s additional funding request of $1,675,397 by a margin of over 1,300 votes. The additional funds, Superintendent Raymond González, Ed.D., explained earlier this year, will be used to maintain educational continuity throughout the district, hire three new elementary-school teaching positions and implement K-5 computer science and design enrichment for all eligible students. Other proposed enhancements include new elective courses like business education, computer science and new high-school electives like robotics and food and nutrition science.
The County Clerk is expected to certify the results in approximately two weeks. To view the election results to date, visit: unioncountyvotes.com.
