Toms River School Election Live Updates

12:54 a.m. update: Check out our stories on the and the

12 a.m.: The budget passes by 473 votes, and the Clean Slate team takes all three board spots. The spread between first and fourth place is 1,274 votes.

11:39 p.m.: With all districts now reporting, the budget passes by 431 votes. Unofficial results make Giovine, Torrone and Pavliv victors.

11:21 p.m.: One district remains outstanding for the school budget and candidate race results.

11:04 p.m.:

With 98.59 percent of the votes in and all but one district reporting, fewer than 500 votes could turn a passing budget into a rejected one.

10:45 p.m.:

With results still being counted, Giovine and Torrone remain in the lead for two of three school board seats. It is still unclear who among the remaining six candidates will capture the third board seat available.

With some districts still outstanding, more than 52 percent of votes counted favor the school budget.

10:10 p.m.:

Lots of applause — and pizza — at Jimmy C's, where the "Clean Slate" of Giovine, Torrone and Pavliv celebrates as Pavliv rolls into fourth place and is 40 votes out of third place.  77 percent of the votes are in.

10:01 p.m.:

With 76 percent of the votes in, the budget question is 53 percent Yes and 47 percent No.

9:40 p.m.:

With 33 percent of the budget question votes in, the budget question is 58 percent Yes and 42 percent No.

9:32 p.m.:

With four districts out of 60 reporting, 2,930 votes are in. In the candidate race, Kenny, Bageac and Giovine each have 16 percent of the vote. Right behind them are Rodgers and Torrone. There's 56 districts yet to report.

9:01 p.m.: The polls have closed, but the real work has not even begun. Toms River Township Clerk Mark Mutter said via email that results start trickling in at 9:30 p.m. and he expects with 60 districts in the township, he'll be busy straight through to midnight.

8:30 p.m.:

We've stopped by the Lamp Post Inn where Team Geoghegan has the big screen computer glued to the county live election results website. The candidate and his team are here socializing with patrons and supporters. Brian Geoghegan has something the other eight candidates don't: the Lamp Post Inn's giant electronic billboard is flashing "Vote for Geoghegan Toms River BOE today."

8:05 p.m.:

The East Dover Baptist Chuch polling place is a steady stream of activity with less than an hour to go until polls close. At the Toms River Elks polling place, on the corner of Clifton Avenue and Washington Street, the parking lot is packed as vehicles circle for a place to park to get in to vote.

7:45 p.m.:

In an hour and 15 minutes, polls close. Polling places will submit results to the Ocean County Board of Elections office, who releases the results and also figures out the percentage of districts who are reporting. The results remain unofficial, until they are certified by the county.

7:20 p.m.:

A quick call to the Toms River township clerk office says no complaints of malfunctioning equipment or switch to paper ballots has occurred for any of the 60 polling districts in town. A total 71 polling districts make up the Toms River Regional Schools' voting today, as Pine Beach, South Toms River and Beachwood will also weigh in on the school budget question.

6:50 p.m.:

If you are hoping all the campaign lawn signs are gone sooner rather than later, each of the candidates at Monday's debate pledged to work hard to remove them. 

Karen Kenny joked her husband and son's friends have it on their Thursday chore list."I have them driving around all day," she said.

Brian Geoghegan said he only grudingly included signs in his campaign strategy, and admitted he hates them. "I know how you feel, I absolutely hate seeing them everywhere. I agreed to only use them in the last week of the campaign, that's it, and look forward to picking them up," he said.

Ben Giovine said campaign supporters are working en masse to remove the signs, not just because they are a post-election eyesore but because campaigns can accrue fines for not removing them, he said.

5:50 p.m.:

What are some of the current board of education members doing election night? It turns out several of the subcommittees of the board are holding their scheduled meetings tonight at 1144 Hooper Ave., the district administration building. Board President Linda Garvey said she'll be at the one of her last school board committee meetings, which is scheduled to end around 9 p.m. Garvey, an 18-year member of the school board, said she decided two years ago this would be her last term.

5:08 p.m.:

How do the candidates plan to spend election night? We asked several of the candidates where they'll be as they await results to come in:

Brian Geoghegan told us he's returning to the restaurant that hosted a candidate event for him previously: the Lamp Post Inn on Route 9, Pine Beach.

Ben Giovine said he and his running mates of Lorreen Torrone and Alex Pavliv will be camped out at Capone's in downtown Toms River to wait out the results.

Mary Ann Bageac said she had yet to decide, and Karen Kenny and Frank Rodgers said they'll be spending time near family and didn't have a public event planned.

4:30 p.m.:

District 28 in Toms River had its polling place changed this year. Previously, voters reported to the Cedar Grove United Methodist Church on Cedar Grove Road and Bay Avenue, but Township Clerk Mark Mutter said there were multiple calls previously with concerns over opening late.

For this election, District 28 voters will report to East Dover Baptist Church, which is on Bay Avenue near Vaughn Avenue. "There's ample parking, and it's a mile up the road from the other church," Mutter said. It's also the polling place for District 33.

Toms River Patch will begin live updates on the Toms River Regional school board election day starting at 4 p.m. April 27.

Check back then for reports from around the district until the last polling place files its results.