SOUTH ORANGE, NJ — Following a rather quiet election season, the people have elected incumbent Walter Clarke and challenger Karen Hilton to fill two of the three open seats on the South Orange Board of Trustees in a very close race. The race was so close, in fact, that it is still unclear who will be taking that third open seat on the board: incumbent Stephen Schnall or challenger Nureed Saeed.
Clarke and Schnall, who have each served one term on the board, ran a joint campaign with newcomer Hilton. Saeed, also a newcomer, ran a solo campaign.
Results remain unofficial until verified by the Essex County clerk, Christopher J. Durkin.
According to the unofficial results, with 11 out of 12 districts reporting in and 91.67 percent of the votes tallied, Hilton is the frontrunner, with 1,321 votes, or 26.32 percent of the votes. Clarke came in second, with 1,293 votes, or 25.76 percent of the votes. And it is simply too close to call between Schnall and Saeed, with Schnall having earned 1,192 votes, or 23.75 percent, and Saeed having earned 1,170 votes, or 23.31 percent.
There is only a 3-point difference between first and fourth place, with third and fourth place only being separated by 22 votes.
The county clerk recorded 912 undervotes, which shows the number of votes left over when voters either voted for one or two candidates, but not three.
There were 43 write-in votes.
Durkin told the News-Record in a May 11 email that the final results will be made available only after the county has tabulated all provisional ballots and after the results from an extra machine, which was placed to accommodate a high number of registered voters in that district, are tallied.
While Hilton declined to comment until all results are tallied, Clarke told the News-Record that while he was pleased to see voters supporting him, he was underwhelmed by voter turnout, especially after the diligent work that SOMA Action did to “get out the vote.”
Nevertheless, he is pleased that he will be able to continue the momentum of his first four years on the board, though he said that there is still much to do.
“If it were about one thing (that needed to be done), that would be easy, but there are so many things in the spaghetti bowl of our village that need to be done,” Clarke said in a Tuesday night, May 9, phone interview.
He did stress, however, that he will continue to focus his energies on sustainability, continuing to improve the village’s water system and creating alternate transit routes, especially for cyclists via the River Greenway project.
“There’s a lot to be done,” Clarke said. “While campaigning I got to meet people and there are so many cool people in South Orange — being able to represent them is heartening, (as is) being able to contribute to the culture of South Orange.”
Despite being able to maintain his seat on the board, Clarke did express concern the winners of the race are still unclear.
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