Voters in Long Branch will continue to cast ballots in the spring municipal election after the council decided last week to stay with the long-standing practice.
Councilwoman Mary Jane Celli said that the idea of moving the election from May to November was brought up at a council meeting a few months ago, and she was waiting for a light workshop agenda to discuss the issue. Celli and other council members discussed at the Jan. 25 workshop meeting the possibility of moving the municipal election to coincide with the November general election; all five council members decided in an informal poll to keep the election as is.
“I don’t understand why we’d want to change,” she said. “It’s worked for 30 years; we’ve never had a problem. The tickets have always been mixed and there’s been no dissension and no party affiliations at all.”
The city government is organized under the Faulkner Act, which calls for the mayor and council to be nonpartisan and elections to be held in the spring.
City Attorney James Aaron explained the history behind the stand-alone election in the city .“For over 30 years the city under this formof government was directed by statute to have elections inMay,” he said. “The philosophy behind thatwas LongBranchwas a nonpartisan election.
“Slates of individuals would run irrespective of party labels. There was no Republican Party ticket, there was no Democratic Party ticket,” he added.
“Over the last 30 years that has worked out verywell because peoplewere issue oriented, not political party line oriented.”
Aaron said the last three or four city councils have been made up of representatives fromboth of the predominant political parties.
He explained that the city has been required under state statute to hold elections in the spring, but that has recently changed.
“The state statute did change. The Assembly passed a bill that said you can change only if you have a certain population limit,” he said. “The Senate never passed that bill.
“In its final passage, the bill said the municipality had the right to change over, but if it did, it would be for … a minimum of 10 years,” he added.
Since Mayor Adam Schneider was not yet at the meeting, Aaron relayed a message from him.
“The point was raised by the mayor that Long Branch historically has been a Democratic [Party] city no matter whether it was national or county or locally,” he said. “That would put any Republican at a disadvantage.
“The mayor’s position is, let’s leave everything alone; nonpartisan elections have worked well,” he added.
Aaron explained that one reason that the city may want to switch the election date is because more people tend to vote in November.
“The countervailing position is traditionally more people vote in a November election than they do in a May election because they vote for more things,” he said. “That is countered by the argument that if the issues are important to the people, then people will come out and vote, irrespective of when the election takes place.”
Councilman John Pallone questioned whether the city could remain as nonpartisan if the Election Day were switched; Aaron said he was not sure what the election laws were for nonpartisan November elections.
City Clerk Kathy Schmelz said the recent 2010 municipal election cost just over $33,000 to run. She said the primary election, general election and Board of Education election equaled $14,300.
Last May Tinton Falls, also a Faulkner Act municipality, voted to move the election date to the fall.
In Long Branch the terms of the council and mayor expire at the same time, and the next election is scheduled for 2014.
Contact Kenny Walter at [email protected].