Know What You Vote For
Questions for the candidates? Comment below or email to news@allprinceton.com
Princeton voters face some unique choices on the ballot this November. Most notably, whether to consolidate the Borough and Township. Other big decisions Princetonians must make this year include: choosing a new Borough mayor to replace Mildred Trotman, who retires after more than 25 years in public service; and voting for the first time in the 16th New Jersey Legislative District, to which Princeton has been moved after last April’s statewide redistricting.
The League of Women Voters is staging a series of informative events to help voters make more informed decisions in the Fall.
Aspiring candidates in all local races have been invited to a series of five forums that have been organized to give residents a chance to question the candidates and hear where they stand on the issues:
- Sep. 20 - Borough Mayor
- Sep. 26 - Township Committee
- Sep. 28 - Borough Council
- Oct. 17 - 16th Legislative District
- Oct. 20 - Mercer County Executives and Freeholders
Only the Township Committee and Borough Council forums cannot accommodate a live audience, as they will be broadcast from the studios of Princeton Community TV. The public is invited to submit questions to these by email to news@allprinceton.com.
The other three debates can entertain questions from a live audience. The Borough Mayor forum next Tuesday, Sep. 20, takes place 7:30pm at the Jewish Center of Princeton. The 16th Legislative District debate on Oct. 17 will be held at 7:00pm at Princeton Township Hall. And the Mercer County candidates’ forum on Oct. 20 will be in Dodds Auditorium, Robertson Hall, Princeton University at 7:00pm.
In addition, the Princeton Area League is sponsoring an informative session on The Most Competitive Game of Musical Chairs You've Ever Seen: Dynamics of New Jersey's Congressional Redistricting Process at 7:00pm on Sep. 19 at Township Hall. Rider University’s Ben Dworkin, Adjunct Assistant Professor and Director of the Rebovich Institute for New Jersey Politics, will talk about the implications of this year’s redrawing of New Jersey’s legislative map, which took Princeton out of the Democratic-leaning 15th District, and put it into the Somerset-dominated, Republican-leaning 16th. Princetonians, no longer to be represented by Shirley Turner and Reed Gusciora, will be choosing from a fresh slate of candidates.
NJ will lose one representative due to our declining population relative to that of the rest of the country. Instead of twelve districts, NJ will have eleven districts, realigned to equalize population. Thus there is the chance that Princeton may no longer be represented by Rush Holt.
Voters who would like to hear more about consolidation have a few more opportunities to hear both sides of the story: a panel sponsored by the Princeton Community Democratic Organization on Sep 18 at the Suzanne Patterson Center, and a discussion co-sponsored by the Princeton Area League and Princeton Future Oct 1 at the Public Library.
“Voters' Service, for which the League is best known, is the foundation upon which the League of Women Voters was established in 1920”, explains Chrystal Schivell, chair of the Princeton Area chapter. “Its objective is to promote informed and active participation in government through voter registration drives, candidate debates and forums, the publication of candidate information, VOTEline, public service announcements about election dates and procedures, and citizen education.”
The following chart summarizes the upcoming opportunities for voters to learn more about the choices they face on November 8:
|
Date |
Time | Location | Race/Issue | Term | Candidates (invited) | Moderator |
| Sun, Sep 18 | 7:30pm | Suzanne Patterson Center | Consolidation panel | |||
| Mon, Sep 19 | 7:00pm | Princeton Township Hall | Redistricting discussion with Ben Dworkin | |||
| Tue, Sep. 20 | 7:30pm | The Jewish Center of Princeton, 435 Nassau Street | Borough Mayor | 4 years | REPUBLICAN: Jill Jachera DEMOCRAT: Yina Moore | Linda Mather of Princeton Township |
| Mon, Sep 26 | 7-8pm | Live broadcast on PCTV and webcast on AllPrinceton.com | Township Committee (2 seats) | 3 years | REPUBLICANS: Geoff Aton, Mark Scheibner DEMOCRATS: Bernard "Bernie" P. Miller (incumbent), G. Susan "Sue" Nemeth (incumbent) | Karen Siracusa of West Windsor Township |
| Tue, Sep 27 | 7pm | Borough Hall | Joint Borough-Township public meeting on consolidation | |||
| Wed, Sep 28 | 7-8pm | Live broadcast on PCTV and webcast on AllPrinceton.com | Borough Council (2 seats) | 3 years | REPUBLICANS: Dudley G. Sipprelle, Peter A. Marks DEMOCRATS: Barbara Trelstad (incumbent), Heather Howard | Linda Mather of Princeton Township |
| Sat, Oct 1 | 9am | Community Room, Princeton Public Library | Consolidation discussion. Representatives from the Consolidation Commission and the Center for Government Research will attend | |||
| Mon, Oct 17 | 7pm | Main Meeting Room, Princeton Township Municipal Building, 400 Witherspoon Street | 16th Legislative District Senate | 4 years | REPUBLICAN: Christopher Bateman (incumbent-Somervile) DEMOCRAT: Maureen Vella (Hillsborough) | Barbara Trought of Medford |
| 16th Legislative District Assembly (2 seats) | 2 years |
REPUBLICANS: Peter J. Biondi (incumbent - Hillsborough) Jack Ciattarelli (Hillsborough) DEMOCRATS: Marie Corfield (Flemington) Joe Camarota (Kendall Park) |
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| Thu, Oct 20 | 7pm | Dodds Auditorium, Robertson Hall, Princeton University (corner of Washington Rd. and Prospect) | Mercer County: | Sandy Matsen of Hunterdon County | ||
| 7-7:45 | Executive | 4 years | REPUBLICAN: Jonathan C. Savage DEMOCRAT: Brian M. Hughes (incumbent) | |||
| 8-9:30 | Freeholders (2 seats) | 3 years | REPUBLICANS: Z. Dion Clark, David G. Maher DEMOCRATS: Lucylle R.S. Walter (incumbent), John A. Cimino (incumbent) | |||
| Freeholder | 1 year unexpired | REPUBLICAN: James V. Castelize III DEMOCRAT: Samuel T. Frisby Sr. (incumbent) |
About the Author
Founder, AllPrinceton
Donna Liu is a digital journalist who has lived in Princeton with her family since 2002. She founded AllPrinceton in 2010 as an online hub for community news and information. At Princeton University's Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs, she built UChannel - an online archive of public affairs lectures in academia. Before that she established and managed CNN International's Asia Production Center in Hong Kong.
