19% of Voters Turn Out for School Elections

Voter turnout in the school election Tuesday came in at 18.51 percent, with 2,531 of 13,676 registered voters showing up at the polls or mailing in their ballots.

Participation in school elections has see-sawed in recent years, ranging from about 30 percent in 2010 to 14.21 percent in 2012. The year in between, 2011, was comparable to this year with just more than 19 percent of registered voters casting ballots.

Mail-in ballots were especially high this year, thanks in part to a campaign by Education Counts pushing residents to vote early by mail. Nabil Mouline, head of Education Counts, said the group distributed over 2,000 applications for mail-in ballots. About 170 mail-in ballots were requested from Morris County; 136 mail-in ballots were cast in the election.

Generally mail-in ballots tend to be overwhelmingly in favor of the budget. In 2009, for example, the year with the highest mail-in ballots cast in the district's history, the budget passed with 71 percent. Voter turnout that year was 24 percent, and there were 160 mail-in ballots cast.

The budget passed with 67.09 percent of the budget this year. The first additional question to fund $240,000 in counseling enhancements passed by 55.91 percent. A second additional question to fund security enhancements to the tune of $225,000 passed by 51.66 percent.

Voter turnout was highest in the district in 2008, when 37 percent of eligible voters cast ballots. The budget passed that year by 60 percent. A second question on the ballot that year failed with 56 percent of the vote when 60 percent was needed to pass.

The closest election was the April 2003 election, which had 50.13 yes votes out of a voter turnout of 21 percent. The yes margin was three votes. The next year, Education Counts was formed.

A Wider Lens

The School District of the Chathams was one of 41 school districts to hold elections Tuesday. Two of those districts, Newark and Paterson, have budgets that are state-operated and residents vote only for Board of Education members and not the budget.

Of the 39 remaining districts, 36, or 92 percent, passed their base budgets Tuesday. The rejected budgets were in Belleville in Essex County, North Bergen in Hudson County and Edison in Middlesex County.

Voters also approved all additional questions and construction proposals proposed to them Tuesday, and filled 119 seats on Boards of Education.

Throughout the state, 501 school districts changed their elections to November after Gov. Chris Christie signed a law that exempted school budgets from public vote if they moved school elections to November, as long as the local tax levy increase was under 2 percent.