Who's running, and where they stand
Compare every candidate for mayor, Town Council, and Board of Education on the issues you care about. Every mark traces to a public statement or a public record.
Your priorities
Mark how much each issue matters to you. Where candidates take different approaches, pick the one you prefer. Skip anything you don't care about. Your answers stay in your browser.
How the candidates line up with you
Answer at least one issue above, then select Compare candidates.
Issue by issue
Each oval summarizes one candidate's public position on one issue. Select an oval to see the evidence behind it.
Candidates
Candidate questionnaire
Every candidate in a race receives the same questions through a response form. Answers are published in full and added to the comparison as their own evidence type, next to public statements and records. Unanswered questions are shown as unanswered, never as opposition.
Each answer should cover three things: what you would do, what this office can and cannot control, and how residents would know whether it worked. Up to 150 words per question.
Candidates who have not received the form can request it at dasiamah@asiamconsultinggroup.com.
How this works
What goes in
Only what a candidate has said or done in public: campaign announcements and interviews as reported, and, for current officeholders, votes and actions in meeting records from the Township Ledger and the School Board Ledger. Positions are sourced to 2026 unless a mark says otherwise. There are no editorial scores, and nothing here reflects the author's own views.
How positions are marked
For shared goals, where nearly everyone agrees on the aim, the oval shows how concretely a candidate has addressed it: a specific plan or commitment, a stated priority, a mention or record only, or nothing found. For contested questions, where candidates take different approaches, the oval shows which approach the candidate has taken. A solid oval means the candidate said so directly. An outlined oval means the position is inferred from related statements or a record, and the evidence panel says exactly what it rests on.
How the match works
For each issue you mark, a shared goal adds points in proportion to how concretely the candidate has addressed it. A contested question adds a point when the candidate's approach matches yours and subtracts one when it conflicts, at half weight when the position is inferred. Issues with no public position add nothing either way. Each result also shows coverage: the share of your issues where the candidate has any public position. Low coverage means limited information, not disagreement.
What this cannot tell you
Silence on an issue is not opposition. Officeholders have records; challengers mostly have statements, and the two are not equivalent. A vote for a whole budget does not show a position on every line in it. This guide does not cover personal conduct or legal matters; news coverage does.
Order of candidates
Mayoral and Town Council candidates appear in ballot order as reported by Patch on Sept. 24, 2026. Board of Education candidates appear alphabetically by last name.
Corrections
This guide is revised as new statements, forum recordings, and questionnaire answers come in, through Election Day. Candidates and residents can send corrections, with a source, to dasiamah@asiamconsultinggroup.com.
Sources
The Candidate Ledger is an unofficial, nonpartisan resident guide built by David Asiamah from public statements and public records. It is not affiliated with any campaign, the Township of West Orange, or the Board of Education.