By Donald Gilpin

Princeton voters will go to the polls next Tuesday with a number of key positions for Princeton, Mercer County, and New Jersey on the ballot.

Three candidates will compete for two seats, three-year terms, on Princeton Council; and four candidates for three seats with three-year terms on the Princeton Public Schools Board of Education (BOE).

Two two-year terms on the New Jersey Assembly for the 16th Legislative District are up for grabs, with four candidates running. There are also two contenders for a four-year term as Mercer County Executive, and two candidates running unopposed for two spots with three-year terms on the Mercer County Board of Chosen Freeholders.

Running for Council are Adam Bierman, Michelle Pirone Lambros, and Mia Sacks. Lambros and Sacks are officially on the ticket for the Democrats, having finished with the most votes in the June Democratic primary. Bierman, who chose not to participate in the nominating process, is running as an Independent Democrat. They are running to fill the seats of Jenny Crumiller, who is stepping down when her term ends at the end of the year, and Tim Quinn, who was defeated in the Democratic primary and will also complete his term in December.

The School Board race pits one-term incumbents Debbie Bronfeld and Greg Stankiewicz, currently BOE vice president, against former Board member Dafna Kendal and new candidate Susan Kanter. Bill Hare will be stepping down from the BOE at the end of his term in December.

Running for New Jersey Assembly, 16th District, are Democrat incumbents Andrew Zwicker and Roy Freiman. Their opponents are Republicans Mark Caliguire and Christine Madrid.

In the County Executive race, incumbent Democrat Brian M. Hughes, currently serving his fourth term in the position, takes on Republican challenger Lishian “Lisa” Wu, former candidate for Princeton Council in 2018.

In the other county-wide contest, for two positions on the Board of Chosen Freeholders, Andrew Koontz, incumbent in office since 2011, and Nina D. Melker a freeholder since she was appointed in 2018 to fill a vacancy, are running unopposed on the Democrat ticket.

Princeton voters will also weigh in on a ballot question asking if they approve a state constitutional amendment to allow eligible veterans to receive the $250 value of the veterans’ property tax deduction if they reside in a continuing care retirement community. The deduction would be provided to a continuing care retirement community, which would pass the value of the deduction on to the eligible veterans who live there. Eligible veterans must be New Jersey residents; they must have served in the military in time of war, or other emergency; and they must be honorably discharged. 

A forum for candidates for the School Board will be held this Friday, November 1 at 7 p.m. at the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Princeton on Cherry Hill Road. Sponsored by Not in Our Town Princeton, the forum will focus on issues of equity and social justice, with the first hour devoted to questions and concerns collected ahead of time from students in the Princeton district, and the last 40 minutes for questions from the audience. 

An earlier forum for BOE candidates took place on October 2 and a forum for Council candidates took place on October 22. Video recordings of both are available on the League of Women Voters of the Princeton Area website at www.lwvprinceton.org.