By Greg Forester, Staff Writer
The names of all three Democratic candidates for the two Princeton Township Committee seats up for grab this year will appear in the party column on the June primary ballot, in a compromise worked out by Mercer County Democratic Chairman Richard McClellan.
Incumbent Bernie Miller and newcomer Susan Nemeth will also be eligible to have an official party slogan appear next to their name on the ballot.
The third candidate — Karen C. Casey Lambert — is ineligible to have that slogan, although she can have some other slogan, according to a letter from Mr. McClellan sent to party members.
”I think Rich McClellan undertook a very difficult job and managed it well,” said Mr. Miller of the compromise.
Officially agreed to by all three candidates, the compromise originally stemmed from the somewhat different results in two endorsement events held recently in the Princeton area.
In a Princeton Community Democratic Organization vote held March 30, all three candidates received less than the 60 percent of votes needed for preferred ballot position in the party column while all receiving more than 40 percent of the votes, making all three eligible for having the official party slogan.
The Princeton Township Democratic Committee had different results in its vote on March 31, with both Mr. Miller and Ms. Nemeth receiving the necessary votes for both ballot position and the slogan.
At that March 31 meeting, a total of 19 elected members of the Princeton Township Democratic Committee met and voted, with Mr. Miller receiving 15 votes, Ms. Nemeth receiving 13 votes, and Ms. Lambert receiving five votes, according to Princeton Township Democratic Chairman Dan Preston.
Ms. Lambert ended up polling less than the necessary number of votes for either the ballot position or slogan.
The results of those endorsements then went to Mr. McClellan, who had the final say on where the names will appear on the June ballot.
”He typically defers to the locals on this,” said Mr. Preston.
With the compromise now reached, the candidates will wait for the June 3 primary to determine the official party candidate for the two available Township Committee seats.
