MARGATE The incumbent slate of candidates in the non-partisan Margate Board of Commissioners election held Tuesday, May 14 easily won re-election over challenger Calvin Tesler.
The machine vote count was Maury Blumberg 794 votes, John Amodeo 768 votes, Michael Becker 762 votes. Tesler garnered 533 votes after mounting a bullet-vote campaign.
According to a representative at the Atlantic County Clerk's Office, there are at least 195 mail-in ballots along with provisional ballots yet to be counted.
Chuck Cavanaugh received 22 write-in votes, and former Commissioner Brenda Taube, six write-ins. Edmund Allen, Michael McGlone, Carol Silverman and Patchler each received one write-in vote.
The final vote tally will not be available until the end of the week as mail-in ballots postmarked May 14 may not yet be delivered to the Clerk's Office.
Becker, who serves as mayor, and Blumberg will serve their fourth, four-year term on the commission, while Amodeo, a former NJ assemblyman, will serve his second term. The commissioners ran as a team on the Preserving Margate's Quality of Life slate.
A newcomer to the political scene, Tesler's campaign slogan was Education, Experience and Passion for Margate. In an effort to increase his chances of winning, Tesler asked the electorate to vote only for him.
The candidates were not available for comment.
