GOP Challenger Suzanne Maeder for Clerk Criticizes Peter’s Handling of Mail Ballots

SOMERVILLE, NJ – Suzanne Maeder, Republican candidate for Somerset County Clerk, answered the Democrats’ claim that the incumbent, Democrat Steve Peter, handled the flood of mail-in ballots smoothly.

“My opponent’s handling of mail-in ballots was anything but smooth,” said Maeder. “In 2020, his office disenfranchised over 500 Bernardsville voters by mailing them the wrong ballots.”

The Somerset County Clerk made statewide and national news by incorrectly mailing Republican primary voters ballots for the Democrat primary. This crisis of leadership was narrowly averted by quick and decisive action on the part of Bernardsville Republican Chair Karen Gardner.

“The County Clerk is responsible for designing, printing and distributing the mail-in ballots for every election.The Clerk should answer to the voters, but he was content to let the blame slide to the printing company which he hired,” continued Maeder.

“The Democrats appear to be thankful that the printing company took the heat. So thankful in fact that the Democrats hired that same company to print the 2022 ballots. It might be irrelevant that the printing company is steered by a generous donor to the Somerset County Democrats, but it certainly doesn’t look good, especially not to the 500 voters affected by the scandal.

“Does Democratic leadership reward botched jobs with lucrative contracts? The alternatives seem to be that our current clerk is incompetent or immoral. It’s hard to see past the forest of pointed fingers at Dem headquarters, but at the foundation remains a central question: Are Somerset County Democrats working for our good or their greed?”

Maeder is the Republican nominee for Somerset County Clerk. She lives in Manville with her husband and three children. She is a member of the Manville Borough Council and founder of the Manville Economic Development Committee. Her Republican running mates are John Sheridan for Sheriff and Amber Murad for Commissioner. They appear in Column One on the ballot.