The Trenton Times published the following article on April 14, 2014. To read the full article, click here.
Amick: Another pitch for November elections, instant runoff voting
By George Amick/For The Times
on April 14, 2014 at 7:36 AM, updated April 14, 2014 at 7:39 AMTwo years ago, the civic group Majority for a Better Trenton called for an overhaul of the city’s election schedule to save money and increase voter participation.
The proposal was flawed and nothing came of it, but it did address some real problems.
With 25 candidates now campaigning for city offices, including six who aspire to be mayor, the question of how to improve Trenton elections deserves attention.
The biggest problem is that the city’s quadrennial elections are attracting fewer and fewer voters.
In the May 2010 balloting, when 10 people ran for mayor, only 11,035 residents —
28.14 percent of those eligible — took part.That distressingly low number was topped only slightly by the 29.65 percent that turned out for the June runoff between the top two finishers, Tony Mack and Councilman Manuel Segura, which Mack won.
Majority for a Better Trenton proposed that the city increase voter participation by moving its elections to November and making them part of the general-election ballot, as state law allows nonpartisan municipalities such as Trenton to do.