Election Day is next Tuesday, November 8, and this year’s ballot features 11 candidates vying for five total seats in two contested local elections.Four people are running to fill two open seats on the Board of Education. Those candidates are incumbent Seth Cohen, as well as newcomersAdriana Bordoni, Parul Khemka, and Marjorie Wang.Seven more are running to fill three open seats on the Township Council. Running on the Democratic ticket are incumbent Mayor Ed Meinhardt, incumbent Council member Shawn Klein, and Rosy Bagolie. Sejal Lakhani-Bhatt, Michael Livi, and Rus Milov are running on the Republican line. Current Board of Education member Samantha Messer is running for the Council as an independent.We would like to express our genuine gratitude to each of these candidates for their willingness to contribute to our community. These positions require a huge time commitment and are a major responsibility; they help to shape our town. They can also be quite thankless, so we are grateful to have nearly a dozen residents willing to step up and make a difference.Regardless of who wins these elections, we will have new members of both the Board of Education and Township Council, as Messer is stepping away from the Board to run for Council and longtime Council member Rudy Fernandez has opted to retire at the end of the year rather than seek reelection. While this does mean that there will be some learning curves for new members – and experience is certainly a valuable quality in these positions – it also means that we can look forward to fresh voices and ideas in each room, which we certainly view as a positive for the community.We are happy to have 11 candidates who have shown that they have the best interests of Livingston and its school district at heart, even if they have different strategies for doing so. Regardless of who you vote for, we hope all residents cast a ballot on Election Day, if they have not already.Board of EducationIn his first term on the Board, Cohen has shown himself to be a welcome voice in the room. He conveys his points well and has proven himself to be knowledgeable of the issues facing our school district. We believe that his leadership and experience on the Board is an asset to our schools and the greater community, and that he is therefore deserving of a second term.That leaves three ...
