Howell School Board President Loses Re-Election Bid By 13 Votes

HOWELL, NJ — Final Board of Education election results indicate board member Denise M. Lowe edged out current board president Albert Miller by 13 votes to retain her seat on the board.

Three seats were open on the school board, with four candidates filing petitions for spots on the ballot to run for the seats in the Nov. 7 election. Write-in votes will be official Wednesday but will not affect the candidates on the ballot, the county elections office said.

With mail-in and provisional votes counted, along with those cast by machine, the latest results confirm two incumbents and a challenger were elected:

• Ira Thor: Experienced. Parent. Advocate. - 6,286
• Martianne Degliuomini: Putting Children First - 5, 618
• Denise M. Lowe - 5,306
• Albert "Al" Miller - 5,293
• Total write-in votes - 890

Challenger Degliuomini won a spot on the Howell Board of Education, leaving two incumbents - Lowe and Miller - in the close race for the third spot. Lowe had 13 more votes than Miller Tuesday. Incumbent Thor was the high vote-getter.

There was also a write-in campaign by Eleonora Calo and Denise Hirschhorn. Vote totals for the write-ins will be finalized Wednesday but do not affect results for candidates on the ballot, the County Clerk's Office said.

On Wednesday, the Board of Elections and the County Clerk certify the contest winners and vote totals and send them to the state to be made official.

The votes now on the county website MonmouthCountyVotes.com are all final counts for machine, vote-by-mail, and provisional votes for candidates on the ballot, the county said. The only thing still to be officialized is the write-in votes, the county said.

Miller on Tuesday said "I want to congratulate Ira and Denise on their re-election and Martianne on her election. I want to also thank the Howell residents, staff, students and fellow board members for their support over the past 12 and a half years."

Miller noted that "When I started in Howell we had a half-day kindergarten program and now we have full day kindergarten."

He said now the district has added free preschool for three- and four-year-old students.

"So, over these past 12 and a half years we have come far academically, even overcoming the challenges of S-2 budget cut constraints and COVID and the academic learning loss caused by it. I know I am leaving Howell in a great place."

Miller also thanked his family: "I also want to thank my wife and two daughters for allowing me the time to dedicate to this great district. I look forward to seeing the success of Howell in the future."

Thor, who served with Miller, thanked supporters and praised Miller:

"First, I would like to thank my neighbors across Howell Township for their overwhelming support for my re-election to the Howell Township Board of Education. It was humbling to receive such a quantity of the votes. I am looking forward to serving my community for another three years and being an advocate for the children and families that continue to put their trust in me. Thank you from the bottom of my heart," Thor said.

And he thanked Miller and acknowledged his experience and dedication:

"Sadly, Al Miller, our Board President was not re-elected. Losing Al's experience, knowledge and dedication is a detrimental loss to the board — one that we were not expecting — and his presence will be very difficult to replace on the board.

"I personally want to thank Al (and his family) for his 12 years of commitment to the children and families of Howell Township, his leadership both as an officer and committee chair on the board, and his friendship. He will be greatly missed," Thor said.

Calo, one of the write-in candidates, also praised Miller and said he has a "strong mind for numbers" that, working with the full board, helped control the school budget increases even through reductions in state aid under S-2.

Looking ahead, Degliuomini, the challenger to the board who has attended many meetings and is on the Community Interaction Committee, thanked her supporters: "I cannot believe all the support that I have received. When I saw how many people voted for me, I became emotional. I am so thrilled that the parents of Howell, New Jersey, have put their faith in me to represent them and protect their rights. I will make sure we put all children first. I did not win, our children won," she said Tuesday. You can read more about Degliuomini here.

Regarding the write-in process, Calo said she would like to see write-in votes specified by candidate or name. Writing in the proper spelling of a write-in candidate is the only way to make the vote count and the vote tally currently just shows the total number of votes for all write-ins.

The total number of write-ins was 890 as of Tuesday. The county noted that if a candidate filed a petition and was already on the ballot, write-in votes will not affect the contest.

When the official write-in results are posted, it will contain the winners of the contest for the amount of available seats for that office, the county said.