By Donald Gilpin

Registered voters in Princeton have many opportunities to exercise their right to vote, with early voting in progress since last Saturday, October 28, and continuing through next Sunday, November 5; Election Day polls open on Tuesday, November 7, from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m.; and vote-by-mail ballots due by 8 p.m. on Election Day.

There are seven local, county, and state contests and a school bond referendum on the Princeton ballot, and Mercer County Clerk Paula Sollami Covello emphasizes that every single vote can make a difference.

“Who represents you makes a huge difference in your taxes and in policies that you will live with,” she said in an October 30 phone conversation. “We have learned over the past few elections that who leads you does matter and does make a difference.”

She continued, ”I’ve seen elections where candidates have won by one or two votes. It happened in Princeton in the School Board. It happened in Trenton last year with the city council. I’ve seen it many times. Don’t think our vote doesn’t matter. It absolutely matters, and it’s important that we take advantage of this opportunity that has been fought for by many.”

Jean Nitzberg and Chrystal Schivell of the League of Women Voters of the Greater Princeton Area echoed Sollami Covello’s urging. In an October 29 email they wrote, “Citizens should vote because it is our right, and in a democracy it is the process by which we may get the laws, economy, and environment we want. It’s like a basketball game. We have the ball and we may or may not make a basket. But if we don’t shoot, we definitely won’t score.”

Nitzberg and Schivell pointed out that all 120 seats in the New Jersey Legislature are in play, along with county and municipal offices and boards of education. ”Decisions about local taxes, transportation, open space, population growth, and what your children will be taught in school will be made by these local candidates,” they added.

On the back of the ballot but most prominent on the radar of many Princeton residents is the election for Princeton Public Schools (PPS) Board of Education (BOE), where five candidates — two incumbents and three challengers — are running for three available positions.   

In a number of public forums, as well as comments and responses in Town Topics and other local media, Beth Behrend and Michele Tuck-Ponder, who have both served on the BOE for six years and are seeking another three-year term, have emphasized the value of their knowledge and experience on the Board and the school district’s success as it emerges from the pandemic. 

BOE challengers Adam Bierman, Eleanor Hubbard, and Rene Obregon have highlighted a need for new skills, new perspectives, greater transparency, and more prudent management of district finances.

In the other municipal election, Democratic incumbents David Cohen and Letitia Fraga are running unopposed for reelection to their third three-year terms in two positions on Princeton Council. 

Also on the Princeton ballot are two New Jersey 16th legislative district races, with incumbent Andrew Zwicker running against Republican Michael Pappas and Libertarian Richard J. Byrne for state senator; and Democrats Roy Freiman, an incumbent, and Mitchelle Drulis running against Republicans Ross Traphagen and Grace Zhang for two open positions in the general assembly.

On the county level there are three contests up for election: Mercer County executive, sheriff, and two positions on the Board of County Commissioners. 

Democrat Dan Benson is squaring off against Republican Lisa Marie Richford in the race for county executive.  incumbent Democrat John A. “Jack” Kemler is competing against Republican Bryan “Bucky” Boccanfuso and Libertarian-endorsed Drew L. Cifrodelli for the position of county sheriff. And in the commissioners contest incumbent Democrats Lucylle Walter and John Cimino are taking on new Republican candidates Joseph Stillwell and Denise “Neicy” Turner.

Also on the ballot in Princeton is a $13 million PPS bond proposal to improve security and technology infrastructure and address major maintenance projects. For further information on the proposal, visit princetonk12.org under “District.”

Sollami Covello reported that early voting had gotten off to a good start over the weekend, October 28-29, with a total of 1,316 ballots cast by machine so far and an additional 51 provisional ballots at Princeton Shopping Center and the six other early voting sites in the county. As of Friday, October 27, 15,517 mail-in ballots had been received by the county clerk’s office.

“We have higher numbers for early voting than we had in the June primary,” said Sollami  Covello. “We also have a higher turnout for vote-by-mail than we had in the primary.”

Statewide in the general election early voters constituted only 9 percent of the electorate, according to Sollami Covello. “I think it’s just because people don’t know about early voting, but as the word gets out people are starting to take advantage of it,” she said. “It’s very
convenient.”

She went on to point out that Mercer County is now using new voting machines with a verifiable paper trail in every voting district in the county. These machines, which allow voters to use a touch screen device to print out ballot selections which they then scan into the voting machine, were purchased by the county from Dominion Voting Systems. The new voting machines are part of the county’s plan to prevent problems in processing and tabulating ballots like the problems that occurred in last November’s general election.

“We have been doing extra testing,” said Sollami Covello. “We’ve tested everything ahead of time, and we’re taking all precautions, making sure that we don’t have any problems in the upcoming election.”

Sollami Covello stated that results from early voting, Election Day voting, and some vote-by-mail ballots will be available by the night of Election Day next Tuesday. It might take two weeks or more after that for provisional ballots and all the vote-by-mail ballots to be counted and for the results to be certified and declared official.

Nitzberg and Schivell urged all registered voters to remember to cast their ballots, either early or on Election Day. “Unfortunately low turnout is common in off-year elections like this one,” they wrote. “In 2019, just 27 percent of registered voters voted. The will of just one of every four citizens determined how New Jersey functioned over the last two years. Did they speak for you? To speak for yourself, you must vote.”