County Clerk

Special Note:  Effective immediately, as a measure to mitigate the spread of COVID-19, nominating petitions can be emailed to countyclerk@co.somerset.nj.us or faxed to 908-575-3930. If you don’t have the means to email or fax your nominating petitions, in person appointments to drop off your petitions can be scheduled by calling 908-231-7013.

Steve Peter, County Clerk

Duties: Records land records and related legal documents that deal with land situated in Somerset County. Administers oath to notaries public, takes and processes passport applications, records trade/business name certificates, files military discharges, issues honorable discharge identification card to veterans, issues Gold Star Parent identification cards, issues veterans’ peddlers licenses and files sub-division maps. Receives petitions and designs sample ballots, machine ballots and vote-by-mail ballots for elections. Issues vote-by-mail ballots, tabulates election returns and issues certificates of election. Officiates wedding ceremonies.

Biography: Married, wife Elizabeth. Born in Quincy, Illinois. Resident of Somerville, NJ. 

Education: Harvard University, Master’s Degree, Linguistics; University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Bachelor’s Degree, Linguistics and Germanic Languages and Literatures. 

Government Experience: Somerset County Clerk, January 2018-present; Somerville Borough Council 2016–2018; Somerville Council President 2016–2018; Deputy County Clerk, Champaign County, Illinois 1987–1991.

Public Service: Downtown Somerville Alliance Board of Directors 2012–2015; Somerset County Democratic Committee Central Region Vice Chair; Former Democratic Municipal Chair of Somerville. 

Professional Service: Section Chief, Clerks and Recorders, Constitutional Officers Association of New Jersey, 2019; Member of Board of Directors of the TeX Users Group, 2003–2017; President, TeX Users Group, 2010–2015