Terms of mayor, two council members are extended to Dec. 31, 2013
By Joanne Degnan, Managing Editor
ROBBINSVILLE It’s official.
After more than a year of discussion and a public referendum meant to gauge voter sentiment, the Township Council has adopted an ordinance that changes the date of nonpartisan municipal elections from the first Tuesday in May to the first Tuesday in November.
The proposal was posed to residents in the form of a non-binding ballot question on Nov. 8 and was overwhelmingly approved. The result prompted the council to introduce a binding ordinance that was adopted 4-0 on Dec. 22 without comment from the public or council.
The ordinance becomes effective Jan. 25, according to Robbinsville Deputy Municipal Clerk Beth Dupnak.
The change means the municipal election that had been set for May 7, 2013 will now be held on Nov. 5, 2013 instead. Three elected officials whose terms were set to expire on June 30, 2013 Mayor Dave Fried, Councilman Vince Calcagno and Councilwoman Sheree McGowan will now remain in office until Dec. 31, 2013 to accommodate the switch to November elections.
Proponents of the ordinance have said it is good for taxpayers because they will no longer have to foot the bill for holding separate May elections every two years. Holding the municipal election in November when voters are already accustomed to going to the polls is also seen as a move that will boost voter turnout.
The last Township Council election on May 10, 2011 cost approximately $30,000 to hold and produced a voter turnout of only 13.2 percent, according to the municipal clerk’s office.
In nonpartisan municipal races, candidates are nominated by citizen petition, not primaries, and they run without Democrat or Republican Party labels. Robbinsville municipal races will continue to be nonpartisan when they move from May to November, with local candidates’ names appearing in a separate location on the November 2013 ballot, not the Republican and Democratic Party columns.
Opponents of the change had argued that holding nonpartisan municipal elections in November, when the Democrats and Republicans are running for other county, state and federal offices, would open the municipal races up to interference from county and state political bosses regardless of how the ballot was printed.
The council was initially divided in late 2010 and early 2011 on whether to move forward with the election date change and decided to put the question to voters before taking final action. Robbinsville residents overwhelming supported the ballot question proposing the election date change by a vote of 1,799 to 255.