--- In AsburyPark@yahoogroups.com, "SkipDragon" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
>
> Voter turnout is significantly lower in off-cycle municipal elections
> than in general elections. Need we say more? One of the overriding
> problems with Asbury is an appalling lack of citizen involvement;{YOU MAKE A
> GOOD POINT SOME PEOPLE DON'T GET INVOLVE WITH ANYHING.SOME WILL GET INVOLVEED
> IN THINGS BUT DON'T VOTE FOR WHAT EVER REASON.MAYBE THEY BEEN ARRESTED IN THE
> PAST.SOME WILL BE AT EVERY CITY COUNCIL MEETING WITH NEGATIVE REMARKS LIVE
> HERE YEAR ROUND & DON'T VOTE.SOME OF THE THINGS THEY SAY WILL BENEFIT THE
> CITY BUT DON'T HELP GET THE RIGHT PEOPLE IN OFFICE.MY OLD COMMANDER IN THE
> VFW JOE SCOTT WWII HAD A MUSIC STORE/TV WITH HIS HIS FATHER WWI IN ASBURY FOR
> YEARS HE SAID THE SAME THING LACK OF CITZEN INVOLMENT.AND PEOPLE COME HERE
> FOR A COUPLE YEARS BUY PROPERTY MAKE PROMISES TO THE CITY & TAKE OF & LEAVE
> THE CITY WITH PROBLEMS.NOT ENOUGH PEOPLE GET OUT THERE TO VOTE THE RIGHT
> PEOPLE IN OFFICE } JAMES GRABE
> which results in a sort of Russian roulette electoral contest, an
> elected that owes its existence more to fate than process and the sort
> of secrecy and back room deal making that today's norm. 1700, 2500
> who cares; it's too few for a city of 17,000.
>
> --- In AsburyPark@yahoogroups.com, [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
> >
> >
> > Asbury Park ..............May 2000 election............. only about
> 1,700
> > residents voted. Each A P city council person were able to win
> their seat with
> > less than 600 votes.
> > Will the voting minority disenfranchised thousands of residents
> again?
> >
> > Monday Letters to the Press
> >
> > Published in the Asbury Park Press 02/21/05
> > May elections lower turnout
> > Jackson's Charter Study Commission officially sits with a fact-finding
> > mission before it: To recommend a change, or no change, to the
> municipal charter.
> > If a change is recommended, the commission will have to decide on
> the timing
> > of the municipal election. The only options are to include municipal
> offices
> > on the general election ballot in November or a special municipal
> election in
> > May.
> >
> > Based upon an extensive review of data derived from a variety of
> sources
> > including the county clerk's office, Board of Elections, Department
> of Planning
> > and the U.S. Census Bureau, I ask the commission to rule out holding
> > municipal elections in May.
> >
> > I reviewed voter turnout data for the six municipalities in Ocean
> County
> > operating under nonpartisan forms of government with May elections
> and compared
> > that data to the 27 municipalities with local elections held in
> November. I
> > contrasted May election voter turnout against county-wide turnout
> results for
> > 2002, 2003 and 2004.
> >
> > Voter turnout is significantly lower in off-cycle municipal
> elections as
> > compared with those in the general election. For example, the 2004
> general
> > election turnout for Ocean County as a whole was about 73 percent.
> That same year,
> > the combined average voter turnout in all May municipal elections
> was 8
> > percent. In 2002, the turnouts were 47 percent in November and
> about 30 percent
> > in May.
> >
> > With municipal elections in May, thousands of voters will be
> disenfranchised
> > and the "informed minority" will be able to exert undue and imbalanced
> > influence over elections, elected officials and public policy.
> > Curtis M. Briggs
> > JACKSO
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