Oxford Township Treasurer Joe Ferrari has a job for another four years.
The 16-year Republican incumbent successfully fended off challenges from five independent candidates in Tuesday’s election.
Ferrari received a total of 5,044 votes of which 2,483 were straight GOP tickets.
Independent William Bishop came in second with 1,274 votes. Other independent candidates for treasurer finished as follows ? Lawrence Banachowski (1,121), C.J. Carnacchio (495), Gerald Mouch (376) and Ed Hunwick (253).
In the Oxford Township trustee race, the four Republicans who won the August primary defeated their one and only independent challenger.
Joe Bunting was the top vote-getter in the trustee race with 5,690 votes. He was followed by Melvin Cryderman (5,460), Michael Spisz (5,457) and Sue Bellairs (5,455).
Independent trustee candidate Rudy Reyes garnered 3,172 votes.
Over in the Village of Leonard, voters ousted 15-year council president Eugene Mallia, Jr. He lost to challenger Mike McDonald 101-91.
Leonard voters retained incumbent treasurer Judith Verse, who’s served the village for 12 years. She defeated challenger Liza Bivens 90-70.
In Addison Township, Republican Bruce Pearson successfully fended off a challenge from independent Sereal Gravlin for the supervisor’s position.
Pearson beat Gravlin 2,607-466.
Incumbent Oakland County Commissioner Brad Jacobsen retained his seat for another two years.
The Republican, who represents District #1 which includes Oxford and Addison, defeated his Democratic challenger Barbara Warren 14,077 to 8,694.
In the uncontested race for two seats on the Oxford School Board, Carol Mitchell was re-elected with 5,707 votes and Mary Stein was elected with 5,453 votes.
Once again, Oxford and Addison voters bucked the national trend by choosing Republican presidential candidate John McCain over Democrat Barack Obama.
Oxford voters chose McCain 5,846-4,492. Addison voters picked the Arizona senator 2,248-1,339.
But in the end, their votes didn’t make much of a difference as Obama ultimately won the White House.
Voter-turnout was extremely high in both townships.
In Oxford, 10,561 (or 75.26 percent) of the township’s 14,033 registered voters cast a ballot yesterday.
Over in Addison, 3,693 (or 74.38 percent) of the township’s 4,965 registered voters went to the polls.