Dear Editor:
All politics is local, and for the past 100 years in Hoboken, local politics has been a springtime event. In a divided vote after a sparsely attended public hearing last month, the Hoboken City Council changed the timing of our local elections to coincide with partisan elections held in November. In a bold move, the city council also voted to extend their own and the mayor’s terms in office an additional six months. Shouldn’t the voters have a say in all this? I think so.
How did this happen? Will moving the local elections to November really save a lot of taxpayers’ money? Will it really increase turnout? Why are we doing this now? In their haste, the city council failed to have a discussion in depth about the potential benefits or drawbacks of this change. The enabling state legislation has only been in effect for a year and a half, and no local elections have yet been held in New Jersey under this scheme. Of the 86 municipalities eligible, less than a dozen have chosen to enact the change, most of them in rural areas, and none as large as Hoboken. There is no hard data to support the arguments in favor or against it. The opinions expressed by the Hoboken council members at the July 20 meeting were sharply divided, highlighting the fact that the measure was never discussed in committee or in any public forum previously. This is why we, as the people, have the responsibility to step in and force a more democratic handling of this issue. I applaud the group of residents who have assembled as a committee of petitioners and are currently collecting signatures to put this question to the voters. Hoboken voters will benefit from the discussion that will be spurred by putting this measure for a public referendum, and can take into account the data available as well as opinions from academics, advocacy groups and a larger and more diverse group of voters. The choice of whether to elect our leaders in May or November should be up to us, not the politicians. Mayor Zimmer and the council sponsors made their arguments based on inference and assumptions, leaving many questions unanswered. Our electoral process is a critical component of our democracy, and major changes should come from a engaged and informed electorate, not imposed from the top down. Once local elections are moved to November, state law requires that the change be in place for a minimum of 10 years, so this is a case where direct democracy is the best course of action.
I have signed the petition and encourage all registered voters in Hoboken, regardless of their current opinion on the issue, to support the referendum to Let the People Decide. Thank you for your consideration.
Ines Garcia-Keim