Robo calls in Oakland went out Monday afternoon from the Board of Education reminding residents of Tuesday’s vote. But an informal survey of senior citizens, or homes with no children, failed to find any who received this reminder phone call.
While this may follow the letter of the law in not campaigning on how to vote, it certainly is the tactic of a political machine: motivate the party base and discourage the general electorate by holding the election in April.
The time has come to end the fraudulent practice of holding school elections in the spring. New Jersey has many forms of institutionalized corruption, and this practice is one of them.
Supporters for keeping elections in April have one argument: school elections are meant to be non-partisan, and moving them to November will potentially inject party politics into the process. Unfortunately, partisan politics are already an integral part of the April election process.
Political machines understand very well the importance of turning out the vote, and local Democrat and Republican party members work to do that each November. Political strategists also understand the importance of encouraging a low voter turnout. Political campaigns sometimes seek to create an environment that discourages voters from coming out to the polls. Often this is accomplished by introducing negative campaigning which is proven to evoke a low voter turnout, or by holding the vote in April.
Perpetuating a practice that usually brings out less than 20% of registered voters, and rarely ever approaches 30%, should require a stronger defense than the fraudulent arguments put forth by those supporting an April election.
It’s easy to be honest when there is nothing at risk. The virtue in honesty is practicing it when it could result in a personal loss. It is dishonest to argue that moving school elections to November will interject partisan politics into the process, and then utilize partisan politics to manipulate the outcome of a vote.
Parents with school age children are most certainly a political party every April; and, they are joined by teachers, PTOs, and the local school board. They share a common interest which they advocate for, campaign for, and seek to promote through an election. They are comprised of Democrats, Republicans and Independents, but each April they form a political party. This would be commendable….in November.
Take the politics out of April school elections….move them to November.
Submitted by Charlie McCormick
Addditional Reading:
The Hall Institute – Time to Move School NJ Elections to November
Star Ledger Editorial Board- Move NJ School Elections
NJ Legislation Will Allow Towns to Move School Elections to November
Michigan Senate Passes Bill to Change School Board Election Date
Who pays for these calls, EVERYONE or only parents of school age children?
How is holding the elections in spring fraudulent? May not be an ideal time but fraudulent? That is a pretty extreme word. Why would November be a better time? I would rather have the BOE elections held at a time when the general elections are NOT held so that it is not lost in that election. Not sure what the purpose of this article is but anyone seeing the title of the article without reading the article are going to jump to conclusions that there was fraud going on in the counting of the ballet, which is not what this article is about. There was no deception in the ballet, no miscounting, no fraud in how it was held. You may not agree with when it was held but to accuse the BOE of fraud is a pretty harsh thing.
BTW -I have kids in the school system & I did not get a phone call from the BOE and quite a few of my friends did not either.
The fraud I’m confronting is the argument that BOE elections are held in April in order to be non-political…that’s a fraudulent premise. I’m not accusing the local BOE of fraud, but of using the tactics of a political machine. Considering that approximately 70% of property taxes are earmarked for school funding, the election and votes have a greater impact on residents than the general election….It makes sense that efforts should be made to engage more voters in the process.
I agree with Mr. McCormick, it would be in the best interests of parents, teachers, and taxpayers if the school elections were held in November, coinciding with the general election. I am sure that most employers allow their employees free time to vote on Election Day. This way more people could exercise their right to vote and all the expenses required to hold a Spring election would be eliminated. Also, the parent-teachers conferences would no longer be disrupted by the election traffic.
We received the call too and our kids are in the schools. It’s hard to say that there wasn’t politics involved when the recorded voice on the call is that of the incumbent running for re-election.
My question to those who want the BOE elections moved to November is: how do we handle the budget vote then? Can’t hold it in November since the budget needs to be in place for the beginning of the school year so when do we vote on that? Remember, there needs to be enough time between the vote and the start of the school year to allow for a failed budget to go before the Mayor and Council so how do we handle that? Separate election in April just for the budget?
I personally don’t care if the election is in April or November. People need to vote – period and once again, too many people stayed home. Given all the press coverage regarding the school budgets this year, it’s hard for me to believe anyone forgot about the election especially when the ballots were sent out to every registered voter.
The remedy the NJ state legislature proposes to deal with the budget issue and moving the vote to November seems flawed in my opinion. Basically, they want to give a free ride if the budget is under cap, which they propose as 2.5%. I guess that’s why it would be a municipalities choice, since its a major flaw…..Changing the fiscal year to coincide with a fall election would, in my opinion be better.
With respect to why people don’t come out to vote in April, there’s probably a bunch of reasons…but the fact is they don’t.
Whenever you want to hold the elections is fine. I don’t think it would really make a difference but I do object to the use of the word Fraud in the title – it implies that there fraud took place in these elections with the voting and ballets, which is not the case. The people who handle the voting have been doing it for years, we have the same system and set-up and I would hate for them to have this word, so casually used, affiliated with them since there was NO fraud in the voting booths that day. A good number of people read things quickly and to see the word fraud so prominent in the title give a bad impression. Journalists need to be aware of how impressionable their words can be and even if they have good intentions or are trying to convey a different meaning, it can be taken the wrong way. I will be honest with you, did it not occur to anyone that the reason that maybe people with children got the call was because those are the people that the BOE have in their system? They are not going to track people who move into town who do not have children. There is no way of them gathering that information.
The use of the word fraud, which is harsh, was intended to catch people’s attention….which it did.
While the article may have focused on the worthiness of moving BOE elections to November, the underlying motivation was that there is an apparent lack of fairness in the system….The lack of appreciation for fair play is what makes many people deaf to politics in America, from Presidential elections to those for town council.
Not being an attorney, I can’t say that the robo calls that went out were prohibited by law. But they are certainly questionable and may very well be prohibited. From a lay perspective, it appears the robo calls were a promotional effort to advance a particular position…BOEs in NJ are restricted in this practice.
The robo calls may not have encouraged people to vote a particular way, but targeting demographics which would most likely vote in favor has the same effect. It’s a tactic used by political machines to turnout the vote, and I think a tactic than lessens the stature of the BOE.
These calls would have been fine had they come from the PTO or OEF, but they came from an elected body. The state prohibits a board from using their resources and influence to promote a particular agenda because it would be unfair.
http://www.state.nj.us/education/code/current/title6a/chap23a.pdf
Robocalls; banners hung at the schools saying “Support our Children. Budget Vote on April 20th”; flyers saying the same thing all are political in nature and designed to get you to vote for the budget. The BOE didn’t come right out and say it in these advertisements but the intent is there: in order to support the children, vote for the budget.
The same tactics are used each year. The BOE scares the residents into believing that if the budget fails, the schools will crumble. They tried to convince the residents to pay for a new, $45 million school too that didn’t pass muster with the voters and our schools are still standing.
This comes right out of the NJEA playbook. Look at what they are calling Gov. Christie: anti-education; anti-union; etc. Sound familiar?
As I said earlier, journalists should watch what they say or they unintenionally smear innocents. I am sure you did not mean to imply that the workers at the polls were dishonest but by saying that there was fraud at the elections states just that. People tend to look at headlines and not read things all the way through. The workers at the polls are not dishonest. Most have been there for many years. You smear them by stating that there was fraud at the elections.
It would seem that according to a resident’s letter in today’s Suburban News, the word “Fraud” is appropriately attached to the recent budget vote.