URGENT: Time Sensitive Petition Circulating to Ask Voters if They Want Party Identification on the Ballot, Editorial Series on Democracy at the Local Level

In full disclosure, I am a former Town Council candidate, and this is only part of my take on what happened in our 2023 November election, and why the will of the people was not done. Democracy failed due to the nature of our current ballot process.

The outcome of the last Town Council election, to my calculation, was decided because of a coin toss and here’s how. Look at the image above. The upper columns identify who is a Democrat and who is Republican. The Dems are known to be in the left column and the Republicans to the right.

The indent of the local section below does NOT, in any way, discontinue that pattern in the minds of voters. They expect the left column to be the Democratically-endorsed slate of candidates.

It is misleading. Countless voters believed that column A continued to the lower, indented section. Two of us on my slate lost by a minute handful of votes and there is no doubt in my mind that West Windsor's misleading ballot is the biggest reason and set up that way to favor the minority.

I met a couple who were disenfranchised by that alignment and voted against their values because they believed they were voting for the endorsed Democratic slate in choosing the left column. Here's how that happened: I was helping a registered Democratic couple cure their ballots. Ballot curing is a process by which mistakes are remedied in time for votes to still be counted. In my assistance, I directed them not to reveal anything about their votes, only to address the cure letter if they wished to be counted. The gentleman explained that this year, his wife suffered a medical emergency that landed her in the hospital for many months. He was visiting her daily and their lives were turned upside down. They had no bandwidth for tuning in to campaign messaging. He then told me, “I am sorry, we did not vote for you. We always vote, and we always vote Democratic. We were not going to sit out this election, because of our situation, but it was important to us that we exercise our rights to vote. I am sorry.” I replied that WE were the Democratic-endorsed slate. He said, “Oh, well we voted the left column…” They were disenfranchised.

This was only one couple. Thankfully, my running mate, Dan Weiss was elected to Council by a slim margin. I was only 12 votes behind him and our running mate, Ben Finkelstein, was only 8 votes behind me.

Out of 16,492 votes cast, what are the chances that same confusion happened enough times to keep Ben and I off the Council?

In West Windsor, the ballot position is determined by a coin toss, NOT by voters. They toss a coin because statistically, the left column most often wins. They let chance determine who gets the left column “advantage.” Is it an advantage? …or do the majority of West Windsor voters align with the Democratic party? It is clearly the latter because statistically, West Windsor voters, by vast majority, voted for the Democratic ticket in 2023, NOT because of the left column, but for their values. A whopping 72% voted Democratic. So, it is my opinion that this administration wants to cloak the political alignment of the candidates to remain in power.

Some of our Republican leadership changed their party registration from R to Independent because of the toxic nature of the Republican agenda as of late. They are not outspoken about why. They never publicly denounced the criminal former president. They may be good citizens and wish to do right by the people but unfortunately, the GOP of yesteryear is now the party of Trump. It seems they are forced to make choices, simply to avoid political suicide. I empathize with my Republican friends as they navigate these frightening times, but alignment does matter on a local level. To be pro-big-business instead of pro-resident matters. Resident quality of life over (non-local) corporate profit matters. Giving power to voters is how we protect democracy. Why not simply ask them? It is just a question, not a system change.

We cannot force voters to “do their homework.” We should not punish them with a misleading ballot. We can, however, offer them the most possible transparency if they choose to vote simply by party. That is their prerogative. I have spoken to numerous voters who choose not to vote at all for the lack of information on the ballot. They said they would have voted if they knew who was with what party. Many people were independent and voted across both parties, if given the chance, but that chance is one we deny voters in West Windsor.

This petition does not change anything! It simply asks voters if they want a ballot that clearly identifies who is who.

The circulating petition for a ballot question offers the voters a chance to decide what THEY want to see on the ballot. The decision should NOT be up to the ruling minority. The current system this administration is fighting for basically increases their chances of victory from 72/28 to 50/50 with a coin toss. Those odds closely reflect the winning totals from the November 2023 election. So, they succeeded via a misleading ballot and thus, disenfranchisement.

It should be up to the VOTERS. Consider the facts. Anything you hear contrary to these facts is a lie. Consider the source and question the motivation that one might have for fighting so hard to take this important decision out of the hands of voters, and put to a coin toss.

PARTISAN ELECTION FACTS

• Partisan elections do not prevent independent candidates from running for elected office.
• Candidates have the freedom to affiliate with any party.
• Changing to a partisan election does not change the form of government, it changes the ballot presentation to allow candidates’ party affiliation to be displayed so voters know who they are voting for.
• For those candidates who wish to be affiliated with a political party, they will first run in their respective party’s primary. Primary elections are decided by voters in their party, just like at the county, state, and national level. New Jersey’s primaries, held in the first week of June, are public, open processes. This stands in stark contrast to the current private process which does not provide for vetting by voters.
• All candidates have an equal opportunity to win; party affiliations are clear on the ballot and throughout the election cycle.
• Partisan elections permit candidates from different parties to run as a slate. So a “non-partisan” slate may absolutely run together!
• Partisan elections do not dictate ballot placement, unlike our coin toss process that disenfranchised numerous voters in past elections.
• This change will not cost tax-payers more than the current system.
• The majority of townships in Mercer County and across New Jersey implement partisan elections.

For more information, click HERE today… There is a deadline approaching fast. If you want to see the question posed to the people on the next ballot, you must sign the petition asap. This is one way to preserve American democracy