Election Day in Ocean County NJ and I'm clueless... Help!

[NJ_Lib]

Maybe somebody knows something about this race here?

I want to vote but know nothing about these local thieves... Here's what I gather, the current mayor who is a Dem has had a DWI or something, on which the "other" party have been hammering him about for weeks and I have to agree, he does look a little shady to me... But the "other" party is supposedly comprised of one Dem, one Repuke and one Independent and they're pushing themselves as the "neutral" party... Yah, I'm sure... Don't trust these guys either... What to do, what to do?

I'm so confused...

Anybody know anything about this? Help......

[Jersey Devil]

1. The only elections in NJ today are nonpartisan elections

Only those "towns" (and there aren't that many of them) that chose a nonpartisan form of government have municipal elections today and there are no party designations for any of the candidates on the ballot or in their literature and I've never seen party affiliation published in any newspaper for any of these elections. Unless you are politically involved locally, how would you know who is a Repub and who is a Dem?

[NJ_Lib]

2. Aha.... Ok, now it's making a little more sense...

Thanks so much for that clarification... I too noticed that on the literature there is no party affiliation, but just thought it was a new advertising trick... Only on one flyer it advertised the three muskateers,one from each party... What a joke...

I don't think I'm voting today... I hate to do that but I really don't know enough about what's going on here in my town (Jackson) and do not want to make a mistake... This sucks...

[Jersey Devil]

3. "Nonpartisan" elections are very confusing for most

If you are into local politics you know who is who party wise, but anyone else would never know. Usually the parties run as slates with slogans like "Vote Row A all the way". In other situations, as you describe, sometimes a slate will have different parties on it, but I think that is pretty rare.

There are a few towns up north that have them like Hackensack, Teaneck and I think Mahwah, but they are more common in Hudson County for some reason. Even there where virtually everyone is a Democrat I can never tell who is who.

[NJ_Lib]

4. I try to stay on top of local politics but...

... you're right... It is very confusing... I only know most of the candidates' parties from past years but this non-partisan election has got me thrown for a loop... I missed the last local election, got stuck at work, so I guess that's when the locals decided to go for it here...

Oy... I hate not voting, especially when I have the day off, but I refuse to vote for a Repuke on principle so that leaves out the Three Muskateers, and I think the only other guy is the current Mayor who has taken an absolute beating on this DWI and does look like he has some problems... I don't care, I think I'm voting for him... He's done OK so far...

[wiley]

5. Don't they have candidate descriptions and voters guides

Either online or 100 feet from the polls or in a newspaper?

[Jersey Devil]

6. There are no voter guides

but even if you had voter guides they would not be allowed to say who belongs to what party. For nonpartisan elections there are only rows of candidates on the ballot with no party designations. This is only true in certain places that have chosen that form of government, which in my area (Bergen County) of the state is not common. Their local elections are in May each year rather than November, when the rest of the state's towns vote.