Obama, Democrats Win Handily in Princeton

Ellen Gilbert

Democrats are the winners nationally and in Princeton Borough and Township, with unopposed Borough candidates David Goldfarb and Barbara Trelstad getting 2,961 and 2,970 votes respectively, while unopposed Township candidate Bernie Miller gained 5,532 votes and Sue Nemeth received 5,527.

Democrat Kevin Wilkes won the one-year Borough Council seat for Wendy Benchley’s unexpired term, garnering 2,595 votes, while Republican challenger Dudley Sipprelle lost the race with 1,033 votes.

Senator and President Elect Barack Obama took 66.94 percent of votes in Mercer County, while Senator John McCain received 31.69 percent of votes. In the Borough 3,438 voters cast their ballots for Mr. Obama, while 726 voted for Mr. McCain. Numbers from the Township were not available at press time.

For the New Jersey Senate seat, Democratic incumbent Frank Lautenberg beat Republican Dick Zimmer by more than 34,000 votes, while in the House, 12th District Representative Rush Holt easily won over Republican challenger Alan Bateman with 76.28 percent of the vote.

Democrat Kevin C. Larkin will be the next County Sheriff, having received 62.71 percent of County resident’s votes, while Lucy Walter, John Cimino, and Daniel Benson, all Democrats as well, were elected as County Freeholders.

These election counts are unofficial. An official version of the results will appear in next week’s issue of the Town Topics.

The Mercer County Clerk’s office reported that 218,397 residents have registered to vote, which is an increase of 23,900 people since the November 2007 elections.

In addition to voting for Presidential, Congressional, County, Borough Council, and Township Committee candidates, voters also decided on two statewide questions. The first dealt with state agencies requiring voter approval before borrowing money, thus giving voters the power to review any debt incurred in this way by such agencies.

The second has to do with the appointment of judges to municipal courts that have jurisdiction over more than one town. A yes vote could allow the State Legislature to appoint such judges instead of the Governor with approval by the Legislature.

Voters in the county voted yes to question one with 57.32 percent of the vote, and no the question two with 53.06 percent of the vote.

Borough Council member Andrew Koontz said that election day “went very smoothly,” adding that he was “very impressed by how well the very high turnout was handled by the boardworkers and by our pollwatchers.”

“Obviously the whole community was very energized by the Obama campaign,” Mr. Koontz said.

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