Gloucester race results held up for write-in tally

The Gloucester County registrar’s office declined to report any of Tuesday’s election results until every write-in vote could be counted in a School Board race that had no candidates who qualified to appear on the ballot.

Not counting uncontested races, voters went to the polls in Gloucester to decide two spots on the Board of Supervisors, as well as the county’s sheriff and treasurer.

The polls closed at 7 p.m. and other municipalities around the state began posting results a little after 8 p.m., but Gloucester had sent no results to the state’s Department of Elections as of 10 p.m.

At issue is the at-large seat on the School Board that was being vacated by long-time member Randy Burak. No candidates met the qualifying deadline to appear on the ballot, so the seat was left blank with room only for write-in votes.

Burak and Jane Wenner launched formal write-in candidacies.

When asked about the delayed results, Dean Vines in the Gloucester registrar’s office replied, “We have a lot of write-ins we have to count up.”

Left hanging in the balance were two races with long-time incumbents —

Sheriff Darrell Warren Jr. (opposed by James DeBaun) and treasurer Tara Thomas (opposed by Penny Kemp Smith). Also in limbo, Supervisor Chris Hutson of the Gloucester Point District opposed by Damien Kelly, and the supervisor race in the Ware District between Mike Hedrick and Michael Bartley.

Board Chairman Ashley Chriscoe ran unopposed, as did J.J. Orth in the Abingdon District.

“As a board going forward our biggest issue will be funding the renovation on our high school,” Chriscoe said Tuesday evening. “We’ve got a 40-plus year old high school that’s had one addition and no major renovations to date. The sitting board has it on the books, looking to spend $38 million, which would entail a 6- to 8-cent tax increase, but that hasn’t been set in stone.”

Aside from the write-in race, three other School Board candidates were running unopposed — Robin Rice (at large), Darren Post (Ware) and incumbent Troy Andersen (Gloucester Point).

In other uncontested races, John Travis Dusewicz ran for commonwealth’s attorney and JoAnne Harris for commissioner of revenue.