PETERSBURG — Incumbent Tom McQuillen and newcomers Kelly Ann Emberger and Rebecca Holden appear to have won their races in the Upper Township Board of Education election Nov. 7.
McQuillen collected the most votes with 2,071. Emberger was second with 1,844 and Holden third with 1,672. All numbers are unofficial.
According to the Cape May County Board of Elections, unofficial results contain tallies from early voting, mail-in ballots received before the close of polling and election day voting. They do not include provisional ballots that are postmarked by election day but not received.
Timely mail-in ballots and provisional ballots received by Nov. 13 will be included in an updated tally Nov. 20 after the deadline for responses to cure letters (Nov. 18) has passed.
Mail-in ballot voters who have not completed or signed their certification envelope are sent cure letters from the Board of Elections informing them of the defect.
The board expects to post official results Nov. 23 after the Board of Canvassers meets to certify the election.
Jeffrey Truli, who did not respond to multiple attempts to contact him prior to the election for a candidate profile, was third with 1,536 votes and Daniel Kilgallon was fourth with 1,524.
McQuillen is a lifelong resident of Cape May County who has lived in Upper Township for more than 15 years. The 51-year-old and his wife, Maria, are the parents of two daughters, both students in the Upper Township and Ocean City school districts.
McQuillen is vice president of the school board and serves on the Upper Township Basketball Association. He earned a bachelor’s degree in individual studies with a specialization in public administration from Fairleigh Dickinson University. He also holds certification as a hostage negotiator and field training officer instructor.
The U.S. Army veteran served as a law enforcement officer for more than 27 years, retiring from the Sea Isle City Police Department as chief.
He is a member of the International Association of Chiefs of Police, the New Jersey State Association of Chiefs of Police and the Cape May County Fraternal Order of Police, Lodge 7.
McQuillen is a former member of the Parish Council of St. Joseph’s Roman Catholic Church in Sea Isle City.
Emberger is a lifelong resident of Cape May County who has lived in Upper Township for more than 20 years. Her daughter is a graduate of Upper Township Middle School.
Her entire family — including sister Deputy Mayor Kim Hayes, as well as her father, mother, brother, brother-in-law, two nephews and a niece — call the township home.
The general education and special education teacher has worked at Margaret Mace School in North Wildwood for the past 24 years.
Emberger has served for more than 10 years as catechist in the CCD program at St. Maximillian Kolbe Church of the Resurrection Parish in Marmora, assisting sacramental preparations and religious education of children. She also has been team mom for the Upper Township Cheer Association for nine years.
Highly educated, she earned a bachelor’s degree in political science from Kutztown University and a bachelor’s degree in elementary education from Stockton University, as well as a master’s degree in psychology from Grand Canyon University. She also studied special education at Rowan University and Rutgers University. She is a certified teacher of the handicapped.
Emberger currently is a doctoral candidate at Grand Canyon University and is preparing her thesis for publication in child psychology on the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on education.
Holden, who grew up in the township and attended Ocean City High School, is a professional artist, wife and mother of two tween girls.
She has worked as an interior and graphic designer for SOSH Architects in Atlantic City, for Anthropologie in Philadelphia and now owns a small retail business called Eastward with locations in Cape May and soon Ocean City.
The 46-year-old earned a bachelor’s degree in art history and graphic design from the University of North Carolina in Greensboro with a minor in child development.
She also expanded her knowledge of child development when working for a few childhood education schools.
By CRAIG D. SCHENCK/Sentinel staff