The primary election next Tuesday, June 5 will mark the first time that Princeton Borough and Princeton Township will vote as a consolidated Princeton. With this historic change comes a re-configuration of voting districts, which means that many residents will be casting their ballots at a new location.

Where the Borough formerly consisted of 10 voting districts and the Township had 14, there are now 22 in the combined Princeton. Every voter will have a new district number.

“There is a very good chance you’ll be going to a new polling place,” says Dan Preston, president of the Princeton Community Democratic Organization (PCDO). “And since the lines have been redrawn, people who live on one side of a street might be going to a different place than their neighbors across the street. The bottom line is that if you show up at your traditional spot on election day and don’t know what your new number is, you have to be prepared to possibly go to another location.”

According to the Mercer County Board of Elections, workers will be on hand at each polling place to help those who show up at the wrong spot find their assigned places to vote.

In this primary, voters will decide who will run for the newly combined Princeton council in the November general election. Borough Council members Heather Howard, Jenny Crumiller, Jo Butler and Roger Martindell; Township Committee members Lance Liverman and Bernie Miller; and newcomers Patrick Simon, Scott Sillars, and Tamera Matteo are running. Democrats Liz Lempert and Kevin Wilkes and Republican Richard Woodbridge are running for mayor.

“There has been such a level of interest this year,” says Mr. Preston. “We had 350-plus at the PCDO endorsement alone, and that’s almost double what we’ve ever had for that. So whatever the numbers have been in the past for the primary election, they should easily be doubled.”

The polls will be open June 5 from 6 am. to 8 p.m. To find out where to vote, consult the PCDO’s website www.princetondems.org which has an election district map, showing the 22 polling locations; or visit www.state.nj.us/counties/mercer/commissions/pdfs/boe_pollingloc.pdf.