Have you noticed how many separate elections in Cape May County are designed to avoid rather than engage voters?
There are three types of off-cycle elections, and it is worth looking briefly at each.
In 2011, 89 towns in the state had May elections, but by 2022, only 41 out of 564 did. Cape May County still has three of the holdouts, Ocean City, Avalon and Sea Isle City.
Why care? One factor is cost. Taxpayers pay more when elections are held outside of the November general election framework. More importantly, turnout matters. According to county data, the general election in November 2024 saw around 72% of the registered voters casting ballots. In the May 11, 2024 municipal election in Ocean City, 35% of registered voters turned out.
Sure, 2024 was a presidential election year, and the November turnout benefited from that. But that is exactly the point. When high-profile offices like the presidency or governorship are on the ballot, November elections see dramatically higher turnout than off-cycle ones.
Even without major national or state races, November elections still draw higher turnout than May municipal ones. The May 9, 2023 elections in Sea Isle City brought out less than 20% of the registered voters. Even though the November elections that year only drew 35% of the registered voters, that is still a very significant difference.
Let us consider Fire District elections. In Cape May County we have 14 fire districts spread over the county’s four townships. Each Fire District commission goes before the voters to get approval of its budget, which is almost entirely funded with a tax levy. The elections are also used to select fire commissioners who are responsible for ensuring fire safety, managing the budget and setting appropriate regulations. They are elected public officials.
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“Only about 3% of registered voters in the four townships participated in tax-levy-setting Fire District elections.”
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In the 2024 Fire District elections in Cape May County, eight of the 14 districts had total vote counts below 100 ballots. In the upcoming Feb. 15 elections, only two of the 14 districts have contested races.
Only about 3% of registered voters in the four townships participate in tax-levy-setting Fire District elections.
Special elections are the other big category of off-cycle elections.
September 2024 saw two of them. The school districts in Dennis and Middle townships authorized special questions for voters, seeking approval to increase the school tax levy by more than the state cap would allow. Why did the districts choose September, only seven weeks before the November election, which would have presented a cheaper option? Because officials wanted lower turnout.
Press coverage of the tax hike proposal boosted turnout above typical levels, and the measures were defeated.
Why so many separate elections? One major reason: Turnout is notoriously low in these off-November elections.
You will hear some argue that off-cycle elections are a way of preventing national issues from contaminating local politics, a way of staying free of the polarization that has become so much a part of our system of governance.
But off-cycle elections predate today’s political polarization. Incumbent politicians have long used off-cycle elections to avoid public scrutiny.
You will also hear that putting everything on one ballot in November makes the ballot too confusing. Is the converse of that argument that it is better to hold an election in the middle of February, when fewer than 100 people turn out to set a tax levy for thousands, many of whom did not even know that an election was occurring?
In one instance this year, a Fire District did not even submit a ballot to the county clerk’s office until less than 10 days remained before the election. That was a district that saw fewer than 70 votes in 2024.
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“Deliberately suppressing turnout has no place in our democracy – elections should be about engaging voters, not evading them.”
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The positives for going to the voters in one primary and one general election are clear.
One obvious point is that cost sharing brings down the expense for everyone.
Last year, a school board claimed it lacked funds for education but spent money on a costly September referendum instead of waiting seven weeks for the cheaper general election.
Off-cycle elections do not offer the same convenience for voters like expanded in-person voting. They do not extend for the same number of days. The polls are open longer in a general election. And, of course, the general election has better turnout.
Elections should not be tools to rubber-stamp policies or shield incumbents. They should empower voters to approve or reject government actions, as seen in September’s school referendums.
Deliberately suppressing turnout has no place in our democracy. Elections are when those seeking office face the voters, not evade them. The fact that one township in February 2024 had a mere 3% of its registered voters cast ballots in the township’s four fire elections combined is not something to celebrate.
All of our municipalities should be holding their elections in November. Fire elections should be moved to the general election period. Special questions like the recent school referendums should be scheduled for the general election.
We must engage voters, not evade them.
Quotes from the Bible
“When one rules over people in righteousness, when he rules in the fear of God, he is like the light of morning at sunrise on a cloudless morning.” 2 Samuel 23:3-4
(Reinforces the duty of leaders to govern justly and transparently.)
