Somerset County Clerk General Election 2022: Suzanne Maeder

MANVILLE, NJ — There are two candidates vying for the Somerset County Clerk position in the Nov. 8 general election.

Republican Suzanne Maeder is running against Democratic incumbent Steve Peter for the seat.

Are you running for office in Somerset County? Contact Alexis Tarrazi at alexis.tarrazi@patch.com for information on being featured in a candidate's profile and submitting campaign announcements to Patch.

Suzanne Maeder

Age: 35

Town of Residence: I live in magnificent Manville, New Jersey

Position Sought: Somerset County Clerk

Party Affiliation: Republican, I very much identify as a compassionate conservative

Family: I have been married to my husband, Rob, for 14 years in which time I have endured literal countless dad jokes. Thankfully, we now have three children: Leo (9), Zoe (7) and Lux (4 ½) who at least get to groan along with me.

Education: I received my BA from the University of Maryland, College Park, with a major in English and minor in Rhetoric. I am certified to teach Middle and High School Language Arts, along with the related elective subjects.

Occupation: I taught English, Drama, and Speech for many years in Maryland before my husband and I moved to New Jersey, after which I taught at Hillsborough Middle School. I’ve moved out of the public classroom and into the gig economy as I became more involved in my local government. In my time between Manville municipal work and meetings, I now tutor high school students as they prepare for the SAT and help them find their voice as they write college application essays. Occasionally I find a moment to write some B2C (Business to Consumer) copy for some online clients.

Previous Elected or Appointed Office: I am elected as a Councilwoman in the Borough of Manville and have been in that position for the past three years. Prior to that I was the President of Manville’s Board of Health, a member of Manville’s Joint Land Use Board, and founded the Economic Development Committee.

Campaign Website: somersetcountyGOP.com

Why are you seeking to run for County Clerk?

The County Clerk has one of the most detail-oriented jobs in all of Somerset County - and details are something I love with every fiber of my being. I’m known in Manville for my attention to detail: people know that if something needs to be edited, cleaned up, or checked for accuracy, I’m the one to call.

The County Clerk’s responsibilities include maintaining excellent and up-to-date land records, designing the ballot for each election, and ensuring that every petition filed by a candidate for elected office is properly completed and that the candidate meets the requirements for that position. These are very real, important tasks that happen not just once a year but on an ongoing basis and I would love to ensure that our County Clerk’s office is run with the highest integrity, transparency, and energy.

How can you show voters that the election process is safe and secure?

OK it’s time to get detailed. I’m going to talk about two plans: one that’s higher-order and one that’s very nitty gritty. Let’s start with the nitty gritty one.

In New Jersey there is this thing called County Committee - if you voted in the 2022 Primary election you saw County Committee candidates on your ballot, they were at the very bottom. These are the people that select candidates for their respective parties, both Republican and Democrat.

But these people, these County Committee members, are elected - two people per party per municipal district. We elect them in our Primary elections because it is within the party itself. However, many people will win County Committee positions as write-in candidates.

Now, once a write-in candidate is elected to ANY position, that candidate, now an elected official, must submit a Certificate of Acceptance, and be administered an oath of office. After all, these are the people that select our two parties’ candidates, raise and spend money, and look after the good order of the party for each municipality and county.

Of the 128 write-in candidates for County Committee, 20 of them have submitted Certificates of Acceptance. How many are listed as fully elected members of their County Committees?

All. Of. Them.

This is so nitty gritty, I know, but it is important. We have a saying in the Maeder house - if I can’t trust you with the small things, how can I trust you with the big things?

So how would I fix it? Streamlining and education.

I would streamline the process. So much of this stems from a lack of communication and process with the 21 local municipal clerks - and I would spend the first six months of my first year as County Clerk perfecting that communication and education process so that our Municipal Clerks know exactly how to process County Committee write-in candidates. I’m talking webinars, in person training, and a clearly delineated flow chart (otherwise known as a process document) that anyone, not just our Municipal Clerks, could follow. That way we can know for sure that the ground floor of our elections process is secure - the part of the process when our candidates are selected, and our parties are formed.

Now, when it comes to the larger picture of our election security, I can then depend on this newly excellent communications process with our Municipal Clerks to ensure that when there are mortalities, moves, and marriages, that those voters are being processed properly and our voter lists have nothing but excellent and current data. When we know that our data is good, we know that we can have confidence in our elections process.

What is something you would like to accomplish if elected and how?

Last year when I visited two schools on career day, many kids loved it when I told them that they were my bosses! The County Clerk exists to serve the residents of Somerset County.

Therefore, I would change these three things to better serve our voters:

1. SomersetCountyVotes.com is not a voter tool but a campaign ad. The most visible thing there is a giant headshot of a bureaucrat seeking re-election. That is an incredibly underutilized website, and I would turn it into a treasure trove of information about early voting, Vote-by-Mail ballots, candidate information, and the elections process. Good design and good data must go hand-in-hand, and if I am your next County Clerk that website will go through a major overhaul to ensure it has both good design and good data.
2. The Clerk’s office is absent from social media. Like it or not, much of our voter education happens on social media, and I believe we are leaving communication avenues left underutilized: so one of the first things I would do would be to create a presence on those platforms. Then I would make a regular stream of videos, interviews, photos, pamphlets, and blog posts - this information should be pushed year-round and not simply at election time! Taking the time to plan ahead, provide educational campaigns, and think carefully and strategically about how to utilize all methods of education is absolutely necessary.
3. Our ballot design is poor. This past spring many of our Vote-By-Mail ballot recipients were confused by the ballot design, especially as the County Committee candidates were on a separate sheet of paper entirely. The directions for the ballots were printed in incredibly small type, and if I’ve learned anything from being a teacher it is that you have to make sure your directions are clear, organized, and readable. I would overhaul our ballot design, within statutory regulations of course, to make sure that our ballots are easily readable for our voters.

Anything else you would like to add about yourself?

Two summers ago, my family made a very small choice and it kind of changed everything for us. We moved our picnic table from our backyard to our front - making a deliberate decision to hang out in the front yard - grilling, eating, and playing.

What did it change? We got to know our neighborhood so much better than ever before. The dogs, the families, the walkers, the bikers, the rhythm of life. I’ll never go back to the backyard!

I think the Clerk’s office is much like that - it should be a front-yard office, not a backyard one, part of the everyday rhythm of Somerset County. That’s what I pledge to do as your next County Clerk - I want to be a front-yard County Clerk. And if you’re ever in Manville stop by the picnic table for a glass of lemonade!