SPOTSWOOD — Spotswood officials recently testified in Trenton in hopes of moving the municipal elections in nonpartisan towns from May to November.
Borough officials have pined for the move for years, saying it would not only bring more voters out but also save the borough money. Because it is a nonpartisan town, Spotswood must hold its municipal elections on the second Tuesday in May. Local officials say only a small percentage of residents vote in those elections, and more would take part if the polling became part of the general elections in November.
Borough Council President Curtis Stollen and Councilman John Shaughnessy testified in front of a state committee in support of Bill S-1099, sponsored by state Sen. Barbara Buono.
“The Senate committee seemed favorable,” Stollen said. “I think we have made tremendous progress.”
The testimony follows years of efforts on the part of borough officials. Stollen said the effort kicked off in 2004, when he saw a newspaper letter about a similar change.
“Every year since, I have been involved,” he said. “We tried to save the money we spend every two years, and hold regular elections in November,” he said.
Unless the Senate passes the bill and it is signed into law, the only way Spotswood could change its election to November would be by changing its form of government. However, many officials including Stollen prefer the nonpartisan form of government.
The numbers back up the contention about low turnouts. In its most recent election, the borough saw only 7 percent of those eligible to vote actually cast a ballot.
Shaughnessy said he would like to see more voters taking part in the elections, and the town saving money at the same time. The state reimburses Spotswood the money needed to pay poll workers, but the borough still shells out upwards of $20,000 for each election.
“We want to cut our costs,” Shaughnessy said. “It costs us about $20,000 to hold an election in May. That’s a lot of money in tough times.”
And of course, the borough still must have polls open in November for county, state and federal elections.
Stollen said that in 2004, larger nonpartisan towns like Perth Amboy were opposed to a change in election dates, and a measure was killed. Stollen suggested that the state set a population limit on the idea so that only those nonpartisan towns with less than 10,000 residents would be allowed to move the elections. The state incorporated the idea into a new measure, which eventually passed the Assembly.
“The Senate was excited about saving money,” he said, noting that the state reimburses towns $1.4 million a year for poll workers. However, an obstacle came up in the form of another bill that would move the nonpartisan town elections to the date of the June primaries.
The Spotswood officials testified against that bill while supporting Buono’s measure.
“Ours would allow any town that chooses to do so, to move it to November,” Shaughnessy said.
Stollen said Bill S-1099 is a mirror reflection of the Assembly bill that was passed. If the Senate wants to rework the bill, that version must be sent back to the Assembly.
“The bodies must pass the same bill,” he said. Stollenwants Spotswood to function as an “experimental community” to see how the election change works. There are about 30 towns in New Jersey that could be affected by the election date change.

