Ballot Positions for Municipal Candidates Determined

It only took a few minutes Thursday morning to determine where Manchester's candidates for the nonpartisan Township Council will appear on the ballot come Nov. 6. 

William N. Peck, whose slogan is "Your Conservative for a Better Manchester," was selected through a drawing to appear in column A in the ballot section for municipal council candidates. Column B will feature the "Continued Good Government" candidates Samuel F. Fusaro, Jr., James A. Vaccaro and Charles L. Frattini, Sr.

The four candidates are running for three open Township Council seats. Completed petitions were due to the the clerk's office by Sept. 4 and by the next day were certified.

The ballot positions selected Thursday, the date mandated by the New Jersey Division of Elections for nonpartisan contests, will be sent to the Ocean County Clerk's office through certified mail, said Deputy Clerk Jodi Pellicano, who presided over the drawing. 

Peck and Vacarro were on hand for the drawing and shook hands after the ballot positions were determined. 

Fusaro, who lives on Brandon Road in Holly Oaks, previously served on the council from 1990 to 2006 and is finishing the term of retired council member Kenneth Vanderziel. Current council members Warren Reiter, who has served since 2008, and Frederick Trutkoff, a member since 2004, . 

Peck lives on Hannibal Street in the township's Pine Lake Park section, Vaccaro lives on Gabriella Circle in the Renaissance Community and Frattini resides on Chatham Lane in Leisure Village West. Fusaro, Vaccaro and Frattini . 

Though residents from many municipalities throughout the state — including Lakehurst— voted in primary elections earlier in June, that process is unnecessary in Manchester since the government has operated without political affiliations since 1990 following a corruption scandal.

Manchester residents voted last November . With that change, the New Jersey Division of Elections states that Sept. 4 is the deadline for nonpartisan candidates to file to be voted on in the November general election. The terms of Manchester's elected officials set to expire in July 2012 were extended six months, through December, to accommodate the election date change.