Four Candidates Running for Two Seats on the Somerset County Board of Chosen Freeholders
Somerset County is governed and managed by a Board of Chosen Freeholders. The board consists of five members; one or two are elected each year from the county at large to serve three-year terms.
New Jersey is the only state where elected county officials are called “freeholders.” Most other states elect a county commission or county council. The term “freeholder” is a carryover from colonial days, when only property owners - then known as freeholders - were entitled to vote, and one freeholder represented each municipality. Eventually, the number of freeholders in each county was reduced by statute and is now determined by referendum, and cannot exceed nine members.
County services included: higher education, road and bridge maintenance, curbside recycling, parks and recreation, employment training, social services, recording of deeds and wills and much more.
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