Wall Township Voters Overwhelmingly Elect Candidate Who Does Not Want The Job

One candidate for a seat on the Wall Township Board of Education who has publicly said she does not want the job received 93 percent of the vote on Tuesday while another who moved out of town fared better in the polling than two of the candidates actually eligible to hold a seat.

Denise Vodola, of Racquet Road, does not want the one-year unexpired term voters overwhelmingly elected her to on Tuesday. She was the only candidate on the ballot for that seat, but withdrew after the ballots had been printed. The school board will have to appoint someone to that seat until next year’s election.

Mary Catherine McCarthy-Spellman moved out of town earlier this year, also after the ballots were printed. While her name appeared on the ballot, her move makes her ineligible to hold the three-year seat she had sought.

That did not stop 2,360 residents from voting for her in Tuesday’s polling.

McCarthy-Spellman’s fourth-place showing, however, put her out of contention for one of the three, three-year terms on the board. Elected to those seats were Eric Brophy with 2,920 votes, Timothy Farrell, who garnered 2,218 and Ralph Addonizio, who received 2,887.

Ferrell, who had previously lost a school board election, had a strong showing, winning five districts outright – districts 1, 9, 11, 15 and 16 and tying top vote-getter Brophy in districts 4 and 14, according to county records.

For his part, Brophy won districts 3, 6, 7, 8, 10, 17, and 19 and tied Ferrell in districts 4 and 14.

Addonizio won districts 2, 12, 13, 5, and 18 in his bid.

In the head-to-head battle for a 2-year unexpired term, Colin Nash’s 2,500 votes put him ahead of fellow incumbent Kerrin McGowan, who received 2,424 votes.

The Monmouth County Board of Elections tallies indicate that there were 313 write-in votes for Vodola’s seat, or about 7 percent of the vote. The list of write-ins was unavailable Wednesday.