Manchester 2022 Election: Who's On The Ballot, Where To Vote

MANCHESTER, NJ — The 2022 general election is Tuesday. Here's a last look at who's on the ballot in Manchester.

If you're among the voters in Ocean County who chose to receive vote-by-mail ballots, you can turn in your ballot at a secure drop box or hand-deliver it to your local board of elections. It must be turned in or placed in an election drop box by 8 p.m. Tuesday, when the polls close. You can track your mail-in ballot here.

Sample ballots were mailed but if you cannot find yours, they are available online on the Ocean County Clerk's website.

Not sure where your polling place is? New Jersey's election information website has a page where you can enter your address and it will tell you your polling site. Where can I vote in person?

You also can call the Ocean County Election Office at 732-929-2153 for assistance.

Who Is On The Ballot?

• U.S. House of Representatives: Manchester will be part of the 4th District when the new Congress is sworn into office in January. The candidates seeking the 4th District seat are Chris Smith, a Republican seeking his 21st term; Democrat Matt Jenkins; Libertarian Jason Cullen; independents Pamela R. Daniels, David Schmidt, and Hank Schroeder.

Patch distributed candidate questionnaires to all six. Jenkins and Daniels responded by Oct. 14. Smith provided a reply on Oct. 31. Here are their profiles:

• NJ-4 Congressional District Election 2022: Matthew Jenkins
• NJ-4 Congressional District Election 2022: Pamela R. Daniels
• NJ-4 Congressional District Election 2022: Chris Smith

There was a candidates' forum hosted by the League of Women Voters of Monmouth County. All but Smith participated. You can read more and find a link to watch it here: 5 Takeaways From NJ 4th District Candidates' Forum

• Ballot questions: There are no statewide ballot questions in New Jersey in 2022.

LOCAL RACES

Ocean County Commissioners: There are two seats up for election. Voters have four candidates to choose from: Virginia "Ginny" Haines and John P. "Jack" Kelly, Republicans; Catherine Paura and Roxanne Barnes, Democrats.

Ocean County Sheriff: Michael Mastronardy, the Republican, is being challenged by Democrat Salvatore Fraschino. The sheriff serves for a three-year term.

Manchester Township mayor and council: There are three candidate slates running for mayor and the two seats on the Township Council. All three seats are four-year terms.

The mayoral candidates are Robert Hudak, Ken Seda and Robert Arace. Manchester's form of government is supposed to be nonpartisan, but partisan political influence has been thinly veiled in the campaign.

Hudak is the incumbent; he defeated Arace in the 2021 election for the final year of the term vacated by now-Judge Ken Palmer. Hudak was elected to the council in 2019.

Arace has the backing of George Gilmore, who has regained the chairmanship of the Ocean County Republican Club after being forced to step down in 2019. Gilmore was convicted on federal charges of failing to pay over payroll taxes and fraud on a bank loan application; a pardon issued by then-President Donald Trump meant that Gilmore avoided jail time.

Seda has the support of local Democratic organizers.

Seda and Arace both have attacked Hudak on development. Hudak is the deputy land use planner in Toms River, and that position has been used as support for his opponents' claims that Hudak will allow Manchester to be overdeveloped.

Seda and Arace made misstatements about the potential for homes to be built at the Heritage Minerals site, which has been a persistent concern among residents. There is a court settlement from 2004 that the state Department of Environmental Protection, the Pinelands Commission, Manchester officials and Hovsons, the developer that owns the 7,000-acre property signed off on; it will allow Hovsons to build 2,450 homes on the property. A proposal under Palmer's administration would have permitted nearly twice that figure, but the DEP did reject that proposal.

Patch sent questionnaires to all of the mayoral candidates. Here are their responses:

• Manchester Mayoral Election 2022: Robert Hudak
• Manchester Mayoral Election 2022: Ken Seda
• Manchester Mayoral Election 2022: Robert Arace

The council candidates are:

Joan Brush, an incumbent councilwoman, and Timothy Poss, are running on the ticket with Hudak. Incumbent Councilman Craig Wallis is not seeking re-election.

Running with Arace are Joseph T. Hankins and Roxanne Conniff. Hankins ran for council in 2021 but was defeated; Conniff was Arace's campaign manager in 2021.

Running with Seda are Gloria E. Adkinson and Karen Sugden. Adkinson is a retired teacher and Sugden is a financial administrator.

The Manchester Township Board of Education has two full, three-year terms and one unexpired term. Gayle Mount is seeking re-election to a full term; two other candidates who filed petitions have since dropped out of the election race. Gina Georgiano is seeking election to the one-year unexpired term.

Where Can I Vote?

Those looking for a drop box for vote-by-mail ballots can use any in Ocean County. There are drop boxes at the Manchester branch of the Ocean County Library and at the Whiting reading room of the Ocean County Library. They are under surveillance 24/7. The vote-by-mail ballots will be picked up daily and brought to the Board of Elections. All security measures will be followed when collecting and transporting the vote-by-mail ballots, officials said.

Voters wondering how their signatures are checked before the upcoming election can see the process for themselves.

• How Are Election Signatures Verified In NJ? Patch Found Out
• What's An NJ Provisional Ballot? How Does It Work? Patch Found Out
• How To Register, Track Your General Election Vote Online In NJ