Newest West Windsor councilman takes seat, but can’t vote

County Board of Elections fails to certify election of Will Anklowitz in time for Monday meeting

By: Molly Petrilla
   WEST WINDSOR — Newly elected Councilman Will Anklowitz was planning to hold up his right hand and take the oath office at the beginning of Monday night’s Township Council meeting — but the Mercer County Board of Elections had other ideas.
   Because the county board had not officially certified the election Monday night, Mr. Anklowitz was unable to be sworn in, even though he won last Tuesday’s election by a comfortable margin.
   In last week’s balloting, Mr. Anklowitz handily defeated Councilwoman Barbara Pfeifer by a vote of 3,329 to 2,520, carrying all but one of the township’s 16 voting districts. The results included absentee ballots but not provisional ballots.
   During Monday night’s meeting, a county election official called township Deputy Clerk Gay Huber and told her the provisional ballots had all been counted — but the election results still had not been formally certified by the Board of Elections, meaning Mr. Anklowitz could not take the oath of office.
   His soon-to-be colleagues on the governing body invited Mr. Anklowitz to join them on the dais for the meeting, and encouraged him to participate in discussions. But he was not permitted to vote on six resolutions that came before the council.
   Despite the setback, Mr. Anklowitz — his wife, two young sons, father and uncle in attendance — gave a short address and then resigned himself to wait for a phone call from the county board, still busy in Trenton working on the results. That call had not come at press time.
   "I want to thank all the voters for the opportunity to serve on the West Windsor Council," Mr. Anklowitz said. "I want to thank all the voters for their confidence in me and I want to make them proud."
   Repeating a theme of his campaign — that his priorities are lower taxes, open space and open government — he recalled his thoughts when he first started to run for council.
   A public defender, Mr. Anklowitz said he remembered a piece of advice from U.S. Sen. Joseph Biden — "Know what you believe before you get started" — which the Delaware Democrat made during a talk he gave at Widener Law School while Mr. Anklowitz was a student there.
   "I hope to remain true to the residents of West Windsor," Mr. Anklowitz said.
   Mr. Anklowitz will serve out the remainder of Kristin Appelget’s term until May. The council appointed Ms. Pfeifer to the seat six months ago after Ms. Appelget resigned.
   In May, three four-year seats will be up for election.
   Last week, councilmen Charles Morgan and Franc Gambatese confirmed that they plan to run for re-election in May, and Mr. Anklowitz said he is strongly considering it.
   Over about five months, Mr. Anklowitz said he knocked on more than 4,100 doors — a campaign approach he said won him the election.
   Mr. Anklowitz also cited his deep roots in the township throughout his campaign. His great-grandparents moved to West Windsor in the 1930s, and Mr. Anklowitz grew up in the township, attending Maurice Hawk and Dutch Neck elementary schools and West Windsor-Plainsboro High School.
   A Windsor Pond Road resident, Mr. Anklowitz has served as a board member of his neighborhood’s homeowners’ association for five years. During that time, he worked to reduce traffic and create a transit shuttle to bring commuters to the Princeton Junction train station.
   He also has served as a member of the township’s Site Plan Review Advisory Board, and is currently a member of the Friends of West Windsor Open Space and West Windsor-Plainsboro Soccer Association.
   In addition to his law degree, he holds a bachelor’s degree from The College of New Jersey.