With No Opponents, GOP Takes All Four Township Council Ward Seats

By Patricia A. Miller

The Township Council race for the four available ward seats went to the Republicans, no surprise since no Democrats filed to run.

Town Hall, the mayor's seat and the entire seven-member Township Council will remain in Republican hands.

Here are the preliminary vote totals for the "Amato Team" from the Ocean County Clerk's Office:

• Ward 1 - James J. Byrnes, Dogwood Drive, 2,072 votes, or 98.76 percent. There were 26 write-in votes in Ward 1, which includes Bayville, Pelican Island and South Seaside Park.

• Ward 2 - Angelo Guadagno, 2001 votes, or 99.01 percent. There were 20 write-in votes. Ward 2 is primarily the Pinewald section of the township.

• Ward 3 - Judith A. Noonan, 3,071 votes, or 99.77 percent. There were 7 write-in votes for Ward 3. Ward 3 represents many of the heavily populated senior communities in the western section of the township.

• Ward 4 - Sophia Gingrich, 2,703 votes, or 98.76 percent. There were 26 write -in votes for the Ward 4 seat. Ward 4 represents a number of senior communities in the western section of the township

Write-in votes from throughout Ocean County are currently being reviewed by the Ocean County Board of Elections, a worker in the Ocean County Clerk's Office said.

There were more than 5,000 write-in votes in the county. Some of the results should be available tomorrow, she said.