HOLMDEL – Gregory Buontempo, Domenico Luccarelli, Michael Jenkins and Joseph Romano will run for two three-year terms on the Holmdel Township Committee in November.
The four residents secured their nominations in the July 7 primary election.
The Republican primary was contested with Buontempo running with Ronald Emma and Luccarelli running with Victoria Flynn.
When all of the votes were tallied, residents had made a split decision and tapped one individual from each Republican ticket to run in the Nov. 3 general election.
Buontempo, a member of the Township Committee who is serving as Holmdel’s mayor in 2020, and Luccarelli, who serves on the Zoning Board of Adjustment, outpolled Flynn, who is the president of the Holmdel Township Schools Board of Education, and Emma, who serves on the Planning Board.
Luccarelli, who received 1,519 votes, and Buontempo, who received 1,313 votes, secured the two GOP nominations.
Flynn and Emma received 1,259 votes and 1,161 votes, respectively, according to results posted online by the Monmouth County Clerk’s Office.
“I am beyond grateful that Holmdel Republicans rewarded my record as mayor with the nomination for another term,” Buontempo said. “I was pleased to learn voter turnout was almost double than in the prior year (50% vs. 28%) for Republican voters, but I hope voter turnout continues to rise in the upcoming election this fall.”
On the Democratic side, Romano was the only Democrat to file a nominating petition. Romano received 1,244 votes to secure a nomination. Jenkins received 49 write-in votes in the July 7 Democratic primary and earned a place on the Nov. 3 ballot.
Several weeks ago, Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy directed the Nov. 3 election to be conducted primarily by mail during the 2020 coronavirus health crisis.
A ballot is expected to be mailed to more than six million registered voters in the Garden State this fall.
The Nov. 3 election is topped by the race for president between Republican Donald Trump of New York, who is seeking a second term in the White House, and Democrat Joe Biden, a former U.S. senator from Delaware.
Under the governor’s order, residents, with limited exceptions, who show up at a polling location on Nov. 3 will not be permitted to use a voting machine. Those individuals will instead vote on a provisional (i.e., paper) ballot.
Trump’s re-election campaign has filed legal action against Murphy in an attempt to overturn the governor’s directive to conduct an almost 100% vote by mail election in November.
