Incumbents, plus one, ahead in preliminary 2020 election results for Board of Education seats

Incumbents, plus one, ahead in preliminary 2020 election results for Preliminary Election Results for the 2020 West Milford Board of Education race place incumbents Lynda Van Dyk and Raymond Guarino back in their Trustee seats for the next three years.

According to the preliminary tallies, the third Trustee seat, currently held by Trustee Nicole Fritz (who decided not to run for re-election this year after serving one appointed year and one full three year term) looks like it will be filled by the incumbents’ chosen running mate: former BOE Trustee Debbie O’Brien.

That is, unless remaining mail-in and provisional votes still to be counted turn the tables on them all.

Preliminary results

Former school board Trustee Debbie O’Brien, seeking to regain her position after taking a one-year hiatus due to family health issues at the end of serving her second of two consecutive terms, has received the most votes of any 2020 BOE candidate thus far - at a current count of 5,341.

Current BOE President Lynda Van Dyk (having served previous consecutive terms on the school board years ago) sought a second consecutive term in 2020; and is recorded as having 5,285 votes as of Nov 4.

Fellow Incumbent candidate Raymond Guarino, also seeking a second consecutive term, is close behind in third place with 5,214 votes tallied.

Newcomer Michelle Buntzen has received 2,319 votes so far; narrowly edging ahead of former BOE Trustee William Cytowicz, who has a recorded 2,231 votes to date.

Cytowicz is also seeking to return to the BOE after a one-year hiatus; following a discontinued 2019 run for County Freeholder and a subsequent candidacy for re-election to the BOE in 2019 that fell short.

More votes yet to come

With primarily mail-in voting held for the first time in New Jersey this year, by Executive Order of Governor Phil Murphy due to COVID-19 pandemic concerns, mail-in ballots that were postmarked on or before the Nov. 3rd Election Day deadline will continue to be counted as they are received until Nov. 10th.

Voters who showed up to vote in person at the polls were given paper “Provisional Ballots” to complete. As per order of the Governor, voting machines were not allowed to be utilized by the general public this year, except for voters with specific disabilities that prevent them from voting with a paper ballot.

Once all mail-in ballots are counted by Nov. 10, then the provisional ballots completed in-person at the polling sites on Nov. 3rd will be counted - but that counting will not occur before Nov. 10th - according to the notice posted online by the Passaic County Board of Elections.

The Passaic County Board of Elections states that updated election results will be posted regularly. The most recent posted results can be viewed via pdf download at: https://www.passaiccountynj.org

West Milford schools win regardless of outcome

Until all of the ballots are counted and the final results are completed and announced as official, the top three candidates remain optimistic, and the next two in line remain hopeful.

But how the candidates this year feel about each other and the 2020 election was probably best stated by Van Dyk, Guarino and O’Brien on their Facebook page (“Van Dyk, Guarino and O’Brien for WM Board of Ed. in 2020” - www.facebook.com/first3forBOE/):

“There are five qualified people who are running for the school board and the school system will benefit from any of them as part of the volunteer board, elected by the people. Good luck to all candidates.”