Should Holmdel voters dump parties and elect the mayor? They decide next week

HOLMDEL - Should Holmdel put an end to local political parties and let voters pick the mayor themselves?

That's what voters will get to decide on Tuesday, July 26, in a special election to choose whether recommendations by the Charter Study Commission should or shouldn’t be implemented. 

The ballot question reads: "Shall the council-manager plan of the Optional Municipal Charter Law, providing for five (5) council members to be elected at large for staggered terms at nonpartisan elections held in November, with the mayor elected directly by the voters, be adopted by the Township of Holmdel?"

This question has kicked up active groups that have coalesced around promoting or rejecting a change. 

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Under Holmdel’s current form of government, voters pick the five township committee members, who elect a mayor among themselves. Each committee member and the mayor have one vote. Candidates can run as Republicans, Democrats or any other party they choose.

The Commission’s proposed council-manager form would preserve the five-members, five-votes structure, but it would allow voters to elect the mayor. The political party labels would be stripped away.

The Charter Study Commission was formed after last November’s election, when 53% of voters voted in favor of forming a commission. 

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Nonpartisan elections

In May, the Commission submitted a report detailing its recommendations for changes to Holmdel Township’s government. 

It found that political party policy positions do not translate to the local level.  

“There is no Republican or Democrat way to pave a road or remove the snow,” the report read. “Political party affiliations at the local level allow partisanship to get in the way of sound decision-making and good government for the good of the people.” 

Holmdel currently has two elections every year: one primary election and one general election. The commission’s proposal would eliminate primary elections for municipal candidates. It also proposes that committee members and the mayor would serve four-year terms, with an election happening every two years. 

If the commission’s recommendations are passed by the voters, ballots for Holmdel would look different. Instead of municipal candidates at the bottom of a line of Democrat or Republican candidates for federal and state offices, municipal candidates would be found in their own section, similar to school board candidates, who are also nonpartisan. 

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According to Julia Sass Rubin, professor of public policy at Rutgers University, who gave a presentation to the commission, candidates on the “county line,” which is the column for candidates endorsed by the local Democratic or Republican party committees, have an advantage in party primary elections because voters often recognize the candidate leading the top of the county line and vote for the other candidates in the same column down the ballot. 

“Being on the county line translates into a substantial electoral advantage,” she said. “No (state legislative) incumbent who was on the county line has lost a primary for the last 12 years.”  

So in effect, once the local parties choose candidates to endorse in the June primary, voters rarely pick anyone else to run in November.

But not everyone thinks removing partisan labels is a good thing. Christian DiMare, a 40-year resident of Holmdel and an organizer to get residents to vote “No,” said he was concerned that the removal of political parties would lead to a lack of transparency of candidate values.

Rubin said in an email that “nonpartisan elections remove party control of the ballot, but candidates in nonpartisan elections are still allowed to have taglines that can enable them to communicate their beliefs to voters. So conservative and progressive candidates could presumably use a tagline that suggests their belief systems.”

Brett Pugach, an attorney specializing in New Jersey election law, wrote in an email that state law does not prohibit parties from endorsing nonpartisan candidates, but the endorsement cannot appear on the ballot in a partisan way. 

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On the current township committee, Mayor Gregory Buontempo won a fierce Republican primary race in 2020. Rocco Impreveduto and DJ Luccarelli had the backing of the local Republican Party. Prakash Santhana, who won his 2019 general election campaign by one vote, and Cathy Weber, who resigned in June to move to New Hampshire, had run in their general election races as independents. 

DiMare said a danger on nonpartisan elections is low voter interest. He pointed to Long Branch, which hosts nonpartisan elections for municipal office, that had an 8% voter turnout this year. 

Kin Gee, chair of the commission, said municipal elections that happen in May, as is the case in Long Branch, could result in low voter turnout, but the commission’s recommendation is for municipal elections to take place in November. 

Holmdel’s voter turnout in November ranges from 45% to 55%. In June primary elections, voter turnout ranges from 10% to 15%. 

Form of government

Gee said the commission recommends the council-manager form of government because it was the most similar to the current form. 

DiMare said he disagrees with having a mayor who could serve for four years instead of the current one-year term. He argued that mayors with long terms may be “difficult to remove.” 

Gee argued that it is up to the voters whether they want to elect an incumbent or choose a different candidate. He said the mayor does not have any special powers beyond leading committee meetings and ceremonial duties. 

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DiMare wrote in an email that “Holmdel is one of the best run towns in New Jersey, led to excellence and preserved under its Township Form of local government, operating well since 1857.” 

He wrote that only five of the state’s 565 municipalities have all three elements of a council-manager form of government, the direct election of a mayor and nonpartisan elections. 

Gee said, “There’s different options depending on what people see fit (for) their town. Not everybody’s going to go the same. So, if you look at all the different combinations. … we picked the one that we think comes the closest and the one that we think works best for Holmdel.” 

Initiatives and referendums

The commission proposed that residents should be able to place questions on the ballot to be voted on by other residents. To place a question on the ballot, residents would need 10% of the number of voters in the last general election — about 650 signatures.  

DiMare argued that it could lead to special interest groups putting questions on the ballot while Gee argued that only residents can put questions for a vote and 650 signatures is a high bar. 

If the recommendations of the charter study are passed, an election for the mayor and four council members would be held this Nov. 8. The newly elected members would begin their terms at the start of 2023. 

OliviaLiu is a reporter covering transportation, Red Bank and western Monmouth County. She can be reached at oliu@gannett.com.