Patel, Errico, Shi decisively win Edison Board of Education election

By Alvin Wu
Domestic Affairs
Patel, Errico, Shi decisively win Edison Board of Education election

Lawn signs attempt to encourage voters to choose Column 1 or Column 3. Photo taken Wednesday, Nov. 6. ZFJ/Zoe Wu

EDISON, N.J., Nov. 8 (ZFJ) — Column 1—Ronak Patel, Ralph Errico, and Jingwei “Jerry” Shi—won the three available seats on the Edison Board of Education by a landslide.

Column 1, the Students First team, outpaced Column 3, the Champions for Students team, by about 6,000-7,000 votes.

Shi reprises his role after coming in fourth place for three seats in last year’s board election. He previously served on the board from 2014 with a term as president.

“We responded to our opponents’ anonymous slander, personal attacks, endorsements, and donations from the electricians’ union, as well as their boastful claim of a 2:1 victory before the election, with our votes,” Shi said in a statement (machine translated from Mandarin Chinese by The ZFJ) posted to the Chinese parents group chat.

Errico was previously elected to the board in 2015 and served for five years before resigning in 2020. Patel is a newcomer.

Incumbents Brian Rivera and Douglas Schneider ran under Column 3 and lost their reelection bids. Manoj Jaitly was also on the same team.

Edison BOE members serve three year terms.

Voter turnout for Edison ranged from 43.23% in District 78 to 71.76% in District 46. The mean is 58.20%, and the standard deviation is 5.88%.

All results are unofficial until certified by the Middlesex County Board of Canvassers on or before Nov. 20, 2024.

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