EAST WINDSOR, NJ – Recently, a message on a West Windsor website accused East Windsor Mayor Janice Mironov of trying to interfere in local elections.
Emotions are currently running high in West Windsor over an upcoming ballot question in the November general election.
The public question on the Nov. 5 ballot asks residents if they want a change from a “nonpartisan” to a “partisan” election.
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West Windsor currently holds nonpartisan municipal elections, meaning that a candidate’s party affiliation is not currently indicated on the ballot.
Voting “Yes” to this question will allow for a change from nonpartisan candidates for municipal office to partisan candidates for office to appear on the ballot as either a nominee of a political party or as an independent. A “No” vote will result in the continuation of nonpartisan elections to be held in November.
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Currently, West Windsor does not have primary elections and any qualified resident can run for mayor or council without any affiliation to the Democratic or Republican party.
A residents group, Keep West Windsor Nonpartisan is at the forefront of spreading awareness on keeping local elections nonpartisan.
On the website, the group says that Mironov, Democratic County Committee boss, is trying to push the party agenda by supporting a partisan government in West Windsor. They also alleged that East Windsor would benefit if there was any dispute in West Windsor.
“Janice Mironov came to the West Windsor council meeting on May 28, 2024, and threatened the council members in public that they will “hear from us more” if they don’t change a decision she doesn’t like,” the group says. “Immediately, the group to change West Windsor to a divisive partisan government was out collecting petitions, falsely telling voters it was to make the elections more transparent.”
The group says Mironov and East Windsor will benefit in multiple ways if West Windsor becomes partisan.
“First, she will control who gets the party endorsement to run for Mayor and Council in West Windsor, thus directly controlling our government. County Chairs are the most powerful party bosses in NJ,” the group said.
Mironov has however rubbished the claims saying the claims were “filled with untrue and personal attacks.”
“It is a sad reflection that the sender failed to do their homework and are trying to make another town and official their boogeyman,” Mironov said.
“West Windsor voters alone will determine the fate of the November 5 ballot question and will choose their own municipal candidates and elected officials – and to suggest otherwise wrongly impugns the knowledge and intentions of the good people of West Windsor.”
In a conversation with Patch, members of the group said the ballot question was important as it could decide the future of the town.
“We don’t want elected officials to be beholden to anyone other than voters. As they start taking money from different parties, as parties start to influence who can run for office, and they start to provide funding so that people have a better chance of winning – that does a disservice to the residents of the town, who just need people to do what’s in the best interest of town,” Chairperson Andy Lupo said.
Resident and Vice-Chair Joe Charles said that people promoting the “yes” vote are trying to link it to the warehouse issue.
“We’ve got independents, Democrats and Republicans, all on our side working up for this issue. If you look at the last town council election, it was very close. There were maybe 20 or so votes that separated the candidates. We want an open, fair election where a Democrat, Republican and independent can run together on the same ticket because they want to work together and solve local issues,” Charles said.
Coming back to Mironov, the group said the Mayor recently attended a private party at a home in West Windsor and spoke to attendees about the ballot question. The invitation to this gathering was sent by West Windsor Voters for Transparency and Representation (ww4representation.com), the political action committee promoting pro-“partisan” elections in West Windsor, the group claims.
“Clearly, she is an outsider who’s trying to influence our election process. Personally, I don’t think that’s appropriate,” Charles said.
“There’s nothing else you can take away from this other than they are trying to encourage support for this change so that they’d have more control going forward,” Lupo said.
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But Mironov rubbished this claim. “I attended a home-sponsored gathering at the personal request of friends, Sujit and Manish. While I publicly spoke about the national election and the warehouse, I did not speak on the West Windsor ballot question,” the Mayor said.
“West Windsor voters alone will determine the fate of the November 5 ballot question and will choose their own municipal candidates and elected officials – and to suggest otherwise wrongly impugns the knowledge and intentions of the good people of West Windsor.”
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