Moving N.J.'s nonpartisan elections to November boosts democracy

[Star Ledger]

Moving N.J.'s nonpartisan elections to November boosts democracy
By Star-Ledger Editorial Board/The Star-Led...
January 11, 2010, 5:13AM
Tony Kurdzuk/The Star-Ledger

A resident enters the basement to vote at the Cranbury Town Hall.What if an election was held and hardly anyone showed up? Actually, it happens every spring.

School board elections and nonpartisan municipal government elections, held in April and May, long have had notoriously low turnouts.

Now at least nonpartisan municipalities will have the option of holding elections in November — the same day as the general election — thanks to a bill that passed the state Assembly on Thursday. Gov. Jon Corzine is expected to sign it into law before leaving office this month.

It would have been a better bill if school board elections were included, but it’s a start.

Shifting elections from spring to fall will save money for many, if not all, of the 86 towns with nonpartisan government. Estimates of savings range from $25,000 in Spotswood to $1 million in Newark.

But even for those towns where savings are negligible, it’s a worthy idea because democracy is better served. Throngs of voters go to the polls in November. Not so in the spring, when a small number of voters show up, easing the way for candidates with party machines backing them to orchestrate a win without having their ideas seriously challenged.

Nowhere is that manipulation more visible than in school board elections.

Wayne DeAngelo, a Hamilton Township assemblyman, calls the school elections "a costly charade" where voter turnout has rarely topped 18 percent. Last April’s school board elections brought out only 14.3 percent of voters. That’s unacceptable when one considers the responsibility of the board in establishing school budgets and property tax rates to underwrite those budgets.

DeAngelo promised to renew efforts to pass the bill, which stalled in the Senate Education Committee after the Assembly passed it in 2008. He’s encouraged by Gov.-elect Chris Christie’s support for the idea.

The New Jersey Education Association, the state’s teachers union, opposes the move, saying it would politicize board elections. But no one would mistake the current school board environment for politically virgin territory. The NJEA is also concerned that putting a school budget to a vote in November instead of April complicates the budget process, forcing school boards to anticipate what their needs will be months in advance.

But DeAngelo’s bill also proposes eliminating the vote on the school budget — unless it goes over the district’s budget cap. Then voters will have their say on the extra spending in the fall.

That’s as it should be. Holding elected officials accountable begins with paying attention. And everyone’s attention is riveted in November.

http://blog.nj.com/njv_editorial_page/2010/01/moving_njs_nonpartisan_electio.html

[Guest]

I commend Assemblyman DeAngelo for his work and efforts in trying to get this legislation passed. We can only hope the new administration sees this as a priority when they take command this month.

Thank you Assemblyman DeAngelo for looking out for all of us here in Cranbury as you always do.