Update: Two Princeton School Board Candidates Tied, Provisional Ballots Still to Be Counted

Shamsi
Shamsi
Witter
Witter

Most voters in Princeton went to bed last night thinking that the outcome of the school board election was clear. It appeared as if incumbent Afsheen Shamsi had retained her seat on the board by a margin of less than 30 votes.

But the Mercer County Clerk’s Office had not added the absentee ballots to the total. Normally the absentees are added to the count first, but they came in late last night, officials said.

A few hundred people in Princeton voted by absentee ballot, and those votes changed the outcome of the Princeton School Board race.

Shamsi is now tied with newcomer Connie Witter. They both have 2,496 votes.

Newcomer Fern Spruill received 3,007  votes and newcomer Justin Doran received 2,617 voters to each win a three-year term on the school board.

A count of provisional ballots will determine who gets the third seat, Shamsi or Witter.

Mercer County Clerk Paula Sollami Covello said there are 86 provisional ballots for Princeton, an unusually large number.

The Mercer County Board of Elections will review the ballots and voter registration records beginning today and then count the ballots later this week. The results may not be known until Friday.