Who's Running For Election This Year In Matawan/Aberdeen

ABERDEEN, NJ — Nov. 2 is Election Day and mail-in ballots already started arriving in homes last week.

In Matawan and Aberdeen, here's who's running and some of the issues (*Patch did not ask any of the candidates to fill out questionnaires this year.):

Longtime Aberdeen Mayor Fred Tagliarini, a Democrat, hopes to be re-elected, but he will be challenged by Republican William Sullivan, a corrections officer and president of PBA Local 105, a local union that represents correctional officers.

Sullivan said he wants to bring a fresh perspective to Aberdeen. Tagliarini has been entrenched in power, as he has been the Aberdeen mayor for the past 21 years, first elected in 2009.

Sullivan said he wants to lower property taxes in town and scale back some of the Aberdeen development, such as all the new development by the train station.

“The developments are geared toward single commuters, but what the current administration does not realize is that people raise families in these smaller developments. This puts more students in our schools, which burdens the homeowners,” Sullivan told CentralJersey.com. "Secondly, everyone can agree taxes go up year after year and we don’t get more for the dollar. We need to give people much-needed relief."

On the Council, Tagliarini-backed Democrats Margaret Montone and Joseph Martucci will be challenged by Republicans Michael Vail and Michael MacDermott. Voters will be asked to choose two.

In Matawan, there are two Council seats up for election; chose two:

Republicans Charles Ross and Melanie S. Wang seek to unseat Democrats Nicolas Reeve and John Lazar, who both currently sit on the Council.

Also, a brand-new state law passed in NJ earlier this year means you can machine vote early from Oct. 23 - Oct. 31 at these 10 polling places:

• Colts Neck Township – Colts Neck Library, 1 Winthrop Drive
• Hazlet Township – James J. Cullen Center, 1776 Union Avenue
• Howell Township – Adelphia Fire Company Station No. 2, 993 State Route 33, Freehold
• Little Silver Borough – The Women's Club of Little Silver, 111 Church Street
• Long Branch City – Arts and Cultural Center, 577 Broadway
• Manalapan Township – Monmouth County Library Headquarters, 125 Symmes Drive
• Middletown Township – Croydon Hall, 900 Leonardville Road, Leonardo
• Neptune Township – Neptune Senior Center, 1607 Corlies Avenue
• Spring Lake Heights Borough – Cornelius V. Kelly Community Center, 902 Ocean Road
• Upper Freehold Township – Upper Freehold Township Municipal Building, 314 Route 539, Cream Ridge

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