KOZMA: By changing local election dates, NJ can increase voter turnout
Column: With Liberty and Justice for All
Virginia and New Jersey share an odd approach to timing elections, holding state and local elections the year after presidential ones. We are the only two states voting for our governors this year, for example.
On top of that, both states hold numerous local elections in the fall, which guarantees even lower turnout despite the massive impact that local elections have on everything from housing to transportation to education. Or, at least, New Jersey does.
Starting in 2022, all regularly scheduled local elections in Virginia will occur in November, according to WAVY TV. That will change the electoral calendar for 100 different towns and 16 independent cities, which have hundreds of thousands of voters between them.
The Virginia General Assembly enacted this change to encourage higher voter turnout, improve voter awareness and reduce the costs of election administration, according to the article.
Still, in New Jersey, the law allows municipalities to hold local elections in May and school board elections in April. Sometimes these are during even-numbered years and sometimes they are off-cycle, but they have one thing in common: low turnout.
Take Newark as an example. In 2018, for two of its elections, school board elections in April had a turnout of 5 percent, and congressional and municipal elections in November had a turnout of 38 percent.
Although these elections are technically nonpartisan, candidates are often unofficially affiliated with a party’s platform. For example, Newark’s elections are “nonpartisan,” despite the mayor being a registered Democrat.
There is one good trend. Far fewer New Jersey municipalities will hold elections in May than before. Until 2010, 86 municipalities ranging from Pine Valley Borough (population: five) to Newark (population: 282,011) held May elections.
In 2010, the legislature gave municipalities the choice to move elections to November while still keeping them officially nonpartisan.
Most leaped at the opportunity, and by 2014, fewer than 20 of them were still holding elections in May. Jersey City voters in 2016 approved a referendum to move the elections, but some cities including Trenton, Paterson and Newark have stuck with their existing calendars.
Similar legislation went into effect in 2012, allowing school districts to move the election of school boards from April to November. New Brunswick is of the few districts statewide that still holds April elections — approximately 700 voters turned out last week.
Moving elections away from November was well-intentioned. It was supposed to reduce national partisan polarization and allow voters to focus on local issues, giving residents a stronger connection to their governments.
Instead, they end up virtually ignored, and the governments which are formed are far less representative of the overall population. Not only is overall turnout lower, but those who do vote are also disproportionately likely to be the community’s older and wealthier residents.
Following in Virginia’s footsteps to consolidate our electoral calendar would not be a silver bullet to improving our state’s democracy, but it certainly would not hurt.
Since 2019, Virginia has placed an admirably strong emphasis on protecting voting rights. This includes the nation’s first state-level Voting Rights Act, which prevents local governments from removing polling places, changing polling precincts or otherwise interfering with the electoral process without public feedback or approval from the state’s attorney general.
It also includes automatic voter registration, 45 days of no-excuse absentee voting, an independent redistricting commission and designates Election Day as a new state holiday.
Many of these policies are already in place in New Jersey, but not all are. A state-level Voting Rights Act could prevent local election administrators from cutting the number of polling places, as seen in last week’s New Brunswick elections. And while New Jersey is set to guarantee 10 days of in-person early voting, the vast majority of states already do so with an average number of 19 days.
It would be even better to move New Jersey’s state elections to an even-year cycle, as the vast majority of states do. If we want to guarantee a decent period of early voting, then we should consolidate the elections we have as much as possible so as to not overburden election administrators and poll workers.
Moving mayoral elections to November during a midterm year (e.g., 2022 or 2026) boosts turnout by an average of approximately 9 percentage points, but moving to November during a presidential election year boosts it by nearly 19 points, according to a study published in Political Research Quarterly.
While turnout also increases when moving a mayoral election to November during an off-cycle year, the impact is far more muted. That could explain why Jersey City saw limited gains in its first post-reform election in 2017.
Electoral calendar reform might sound boring, but given the immense impact that local governments can have on our day-to-day lives, nobody should feel satisfied with the status quo of low turnout. A representative government cannot serve its true purpose if it only represents a small section of society.
Thomas Kozma is an Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy junior majoring in planning and public policy. His column, “With Liberty and Justice for All,” runs on alternate Thursdays.
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