Twice since 2021, Wyckoff's race for a single seat on the Ramapo Indian Hills Regional Board of Education has been decided by fewer than 150 votes. In 2021, Marianna Emmolo finished 141 votes ahead of John Kinney. In 2024, John P. Kinney Jr. finished 149 votes ahead of Emmolo.[1][4]

Those margins come from Bergen County's official results for Wyckoff's general elections from 2021 through 2025. Here are all seven contested school board races in those years. Each margin is the gap between the last candidate elected and the first one who wasn't, because that gap decides the final seat:

YearRaceLast electedFirst not electedMargin
2021RIH board, 1 seatMarianna Emmolo, 2,124John Kinney, 1,983141
2024RIH board, 1 seatJohn P. Kinney Jr., 4,616Marianna Emmolo, 4,467149
2023RIH board, 1 seatBrian DeLaite, 2,293Jared A. Geist, 2,059234
2022K-8 board, 3 seatsJames A. Schappert, 2,915Lisa-Ann B. Michaels, 2,543372
2021K-8 board, 2 seatsKathleen M. Greaney, 2,323Kristen Marrah, 1,884439
2022RIH board, 2 seatsDoreen Mariani, 3,009Brian DeLaite, 2,475534
2025RIH board, 2 seatsOthiamba Lovelace, 3,896Doreen Mariani, 2,0831,813

Sources: [1][2][3][4][5]

In the 2024 race, the two candidates led different kinds of ballots. Emmolo led early in-person voting, 1,524 to 1,309. Kinney led mail ballots, 995 to 636. Election Day votes were nearly even: 2,242 for Kinney, 2,228 for Emmolo.[6] Provisional ballots, which Emmolo won 79 to 70,[6] are not counted at the polling place; county officials verify and count them after the polls close.[7]

Because some ballots are counted after the polls close, the first numbers on election night are not the last word. In 2024, Patch's unofficial count as of 11 p.m. on election night had Kinney ahead of Emmolo 4,558 to 4,386, a 172-vote margin.[8] The county's final count put it at 149.[4] On the night of this June's primary, a results file the county published, refreshed at 9:14 p.m., was labeled "Unofficial Early Voting, Partial Mail-In, Partial Election Day."[9] In Wyckoff's Republican Township Committee primary, Peter J. Melchionne had 251 votes in that file. He finished with 655.[10]

This year, a mailed ballot generally must be postmarked by 8 p.m. on Nov. 3 and received by the county Board of Elections by Nov. 9 to be counted. Ballots returned by drop box or in person are due by 8 p.m. on Nov. 3.[11] The state's list shows a drop box at the Wyckoff Municipal Building, 340 Franklin Avenue, through Nov. 3.[12] Voters can check their ballot's status with the state's Track My Ballot tool.[13]

We will post unofficial results for Wyckoff's races Tuesday night at wyckoffnews.com/election-results. If a race is close enough that ballots still being counted could change it, we will say so rather than call it. Background on every candidate is in our voter guide.