This spring marks final May election

SPOTSWOOD — The municipal election will be held in May this year for the last time. In future years, voting for mayor and Borough Council seats will take place in November.

Nonpartisan governments, such as Spotswood, have held their elections in May based on state law, but a newly signed law allows nonpartisan governments in New Jersey the option of holding their elections on the same day as the general elections.

The Borough Council adopted an ordinance last week to move the elections to November after this year. The Middlesex County Board of Elections will use this year “to work out any possible glitches,” Borough Council President Curtis Stollen said.

For Spotswood, the November election date will not become effective until 2012, since borough elections are held every two years. In November 2012, two council seats and the mayor’s seat will be on the ballot. Those terms are being extended six months, to Dec. 31 of that year, due to the change.

“At that time, the new system will take over,” Stollen said.

Borough officials are happy about the new law, according to Stollen, since it allows them to keep their nonpartisan form of government while implementing a more effective election process.

The costs have been high and voter participation has been low with the May elections, he said. The borough spends nearly $25,000 on each election because it has to pay for advertising, voting booths and poll workers, Stollen said. He added that it has been frustrating to spend so much money on an election process that has produced such low participation from voters.

Costs will “absolutely go down” with the new system, Stollen said, because the election costs will be shifted to the county. Voter participation is also expected to increase, and Stollen noted that this has been demonstrated in the past when the borough has used the general election to fill an unexpired term on the council.

“It has worked very well, and participation has been much higher than what we get in May,” he said.

The desire of Spotswood officials to switch the election date goes back to 1998, when the governing body asked the borough attorney to find out whether they could make the transition. They were told at the time that the only way they could switch the election date would be to change their form of government.

Stollen said the council has never wanted to change their nonpartisan format, because it has always worked well in the small-town environment.

“We’ve been happy with [this form of government],” Stollen said. “We’re all working together for the benefit of our town.”

The change in state law has been on borough officials’ wish list ever since.

“It’s a great feeling of accomplishment,” said Stollen, who testified in Trenton on the matter. “While it has taken some time, it’s really great to see that you can make a difference and things can change for the better.”

The governing body is expecting a “very smooth transition” in 2012, he said.

First is this May’s election, however, when three council seats are up. The incumbents, Stollen, Charlie Spicuzzo and Marge Drozd, are all expected to seek reelection.