The Union County Clerk’s office in Elizabeth held its drawing this afternoon for this year’s Roselle Park School Board election ballot positions. The drawing was held in Judge Karen Cassidy’s courtroom by County Clerk Joanne Rajoppi and her staff. NJSA 19:14-12 requires that the county clerk draw lots in public where the candidates and members of the public are allowed to view the drawing.
The eight (8) candidates running for three (3) available seats on the Board Of Education (BOE) were placed in the following order:
- Kimberly A. Powers
- Matthew Leingang
- Jeff Regan
- Agron Meshi
- Scott Nelson
- Loren Harms
- Joseph Signorello, Jr.
- Alexander Balaban
The purpose of the random drawing placement is to prevent listing candidates by alphabetical order which would give an advantage to a candidate due to their last name. The top three listed School Board candidates on the election ballot are preferential spots since many voters simply go down the line and pick the top three names. Although not always a certainty to a victory, the advantage exists.
Roselle Park was only one of four school districts that had eight or more candidates running for their Boards Of Education.
In the courtroom, the only Roselle Park Board Of Education candidate present was Joseph Signorello, Jr.
For Roselle Park, municipal candidates are not affected by the drawing since there is only one person per political party running for office in the general election.
This year’s election day for the BOE as well as the 3rd and 4th Wards is Tuesday, November 8th.