>Montclair scuttles plan to move election day to autumn
Nic Corbett/For The Star-Ledger
MONTCLAIR — A move to change the date of Montclair’s municipal elections from May to November was shot down Tuesday after residents and former township officials urged the governing body to slow down and study the issue first.
“Whether the action is right or wrong, it was sprung on us just several days ago,” Jerry Kapner, a 58-year-old Montclair resident, told the council at a public meeting. “Given that it took over a year to come to our 2010 budget, don’t you think that we all might need more than four days to absorb the implications of what might be considered a seismic shift in our form of government?”
Earlier this year, the state Legislature allowed municipalities to move their nonpartisan races from the spring to the November general election.
Supporters say the change would increase voter turnout and eliminate the cost of holding an election in May, which Montclair’s mayor estimates is $55,000 every four years. But others caution that a national election would likely overshadow local issues and could make the town more partisan.
full story: https://www.nj.com/news/local/index.ssf/2010/10/montclair_scuttles_plan_to_mov.html
