Final Vote Widens Win For Holmdel School Board President Reddy

HOLMDEL, NJ — With mail-in and provisional ballots counted, Board of Education President Peter Reddy won a wider margin in a close bid for re-election to the board in the Nov. 7 election.

Three candidates on the Parental Rights and & Education team and Reddy ran for the three open seats on the board.

Alison LoPresti and Anthony Libecci won election with the most votes. Their running mate Reham Taha was defeated by Reddy by 27 votes on election night. The team did not concede the seat that night, saying it would wait for the final vote total.

Reddy's lead over Taha is now 89 votes, with mail-in and provisional votes counted, as well as votes cast by machine, according to updated county figures.

On Tuesday, LoPresti acknowledged Reddy's re-election.

"It appears Reham lost by a very slim margin. It was a close race against a nine-year incumbent," LoPresti said.

"Reham is an amazing person and would have been a fabulous addition to the Holmdel school board. Reham will continue to be involved in school-related matters and you just might see her again next year," LoPresti said Tuesday.

Reddy thanked voters who "took the time to vote for me to serve a fourth term," he said. "I truly appreciate it, and will work for the students and taxpayers as I have done for the last nine years."

"I look forward to working with the current board members and the two new board members," Reddy said.

Taha also commented about the election: "It was an amazing experience, and I couldn’t have picked a better team to work with than Alison and Anthony. I am incredibly proud of them for winning the elections and I know they will be an amazing asset to our board," she said.

Here are the final election figures for all votes cast by machine and in mail-in and provisional ballots, according to the county:

• Peter Reddy - 1,921
• Alison LoPresti: Parental Rights & Education - 2,308
• Anthony Libecci: Parental Rights & Education - 2,250
• Reham Taha: Parental Rights & Education - 1,832

There were 385 write-in votes that will be made official tomorrow. The county said write-in votes will not affect vote totals for candidates who filed petitions to run and were on the ballot.

On Wednesday, the Board of Elections and the County Clerk certify the contest winners and vote totals and send them to the state to be made official, the county said.

The votes now on the county website MonmouthCountyVotes.com are all final counts for machine, vote-by-mail, and provisional votes for candidates on the ballot, the county said.