By BRENDA MAGUIRE
CORRESPONDENT
NEW BRITAIN — Carlos E. Pina Jr. received the most votes Tuesday in the Board of Education election with a total of 3,766, according to unofficial results.
Aram Ayalon received 3,189 and Nicole D. Sanders received 3,591, giving the Democrats three new board members.
The Democrats now hold a 6-4 advantage on the board.
Republican candidates Erin Stewart and Jim Sanders Sr. were also voted onto the board with 3,431 and 3,034 votes, respectively.
There were two incumbent Democratic candidates for the board — Pina, a retired state Department of Children and Families employee, and Ayalon who has served on the school board for four years.
Sanders, the third Democratic candidate, is an assistant principal at Wexler Grant Community School in New Haven and has been employed by the New Haven Board of Education for 15 years.
Incumbent Republican candidate Sanders has been on the board for seven years.
The other Republican candidates were Nick Mercier, a music education teacher in Naugatuck, and Stewart, who graduated from Central Connecticut State University in 2009 and is the daughter of Mayor Timothy Stewart.
The Board of Education has 10 members who serve four-year terms. Five members are elected biennially.
Brenda Pantano 