By Lea Kahn, Staff Writer
The three incumbent Democratic Township Council members will not face any opposition in the Nov. 3 general election, because the Republican Party was unable to field any candidates — including write-in candidates — in the June 2 political party primary.
Township Council members Cathleen Lewis, David Maffei and Michael Powers faced no opposition in the Democratic Party primary. Mr. Powers was the top vote-getter with 837 votes. He was followed by Ms. Lewis with 805 votes, and Mr. Maffei, who received 788 votes.
The lack of Republican Party candidates left the field wide open for write-in candidates. There were 33 votes cast among 11 write-in candidates, which included former Township Councilmen Bob Bostock and Rick Miller.
This is the first time in more than 45 years that the Lawrence Township Republican Party had not fielded any candidates for the Republican political party primary. But township Republicans had not given up and were banking on write-in candidates.
Mr. Miller, the former Township Councilman and the Lawrence Township Republican municipal chairman, said in April that Lawrence Township Republicans were going to take the candidate selection process directly to the Republican Party primary voters — by asking them to write in candidates’ names.
A write-in candidate must receive at least 50 “votes” to be placed on the November general election ballot, according to state law. But none of the 11 candidates received the minimum of 50 votes in the June 2 political primary.
The five-member Township Council consists of Democrats, and will continue to do so for at least the next two years. The last Republican to serve on Township Council was Bob Bostock, whose term expired in 2011.