UPDATE: Priti Shah Certified by County as Third School Board Winner

Candidate Priti Shah has been certified as the winner of a seat on the Board of Education, along with incumbent Susan McGowan and candidate Linda Wooldridge, a representative for the Somerset County Clerk's office said on Monday afternoon. The certification followed a count of 119 provisional ballots from last Wednesday's school election.

According to the county clerk's office, the final count showed 1,190 votes for Shah, and 1,186 votes for incumbent Beverly Darvin Cwerner, now placed as fourth in a nine-way race for three board seat. An unofficial count after last Wednesday's school election put Cwerner in the lead, 1163-1,146.

Monday's vote certification will stand unless one of the candidates seeks a recount, according to the county. The official count for the township's school budget also was certified as 2,437 for and 1,837 against.

Shah sent out an email on Monday afternoon that she had won by four votes.

The county and school district both said last week that the 17-vote spread between the third and fourth-place candidates, Cwerner and Shah, wasin last Wednesday's school election. The election hinged on the count 0f 119 provisional ballots, officially verified and counted by the county on Monday.

Two candidates among the nine contenders seeking three positions on the Board of Education were decisively elected last Wednesday.

The final vote count on Monday was 1,700 McGowan, followed by 1,410 for Wooldridge.

Voters approved a $74,368,937 tax levy to support next year's school budget that is a 2.08 percent increase above this year's tax levy.

The three new board members are scheduled be sworn in at the May 9 Board of Education meeting, set for 7 p.m. at the

Cwerner, waiting for a count of the provisional ballots she said she had been told would come on Monday, said on Sunday afternoon, "I am so thrilled that the budget has been passed."

"When I think about my children, I felt it was even more important for the budget to pass. I thought that was the most important victory," Cwerner said of the results so far. 

The board already has faced the challenge of cutting the budget for next year, and Cwerner said she is happy that the district will not be forced to make additional cuts.

Last Thursday, the county Board of Elections said the count of provisional ballots would likely come today, Monday.

"I am just patient," Shah said on Thursday, even though she said she was "kind of anxious" for the final votes to be counted in declaring a winner for the third three-year position.

Township Clerk Denise Szabo last Wednesday said more than 600 absentee ballots were ordered from the county, and instead of everyone mailing them back, some voters instead brought them to the polling site. Regulations do not allow voters to hand in absentee ballots at the poll, but those voters were allowed to cast provisional ballots, which are later reviewed and verified by the county Board of Elections.