On Nov. 5 , the voters of West Windsor overwhelmingly rejected the ballot question to change our municipal elections from “nonpartisan” to “partisan” with a resounding “No.”
The “No” vote won by almost a 2-1 margin, 66% vs. 34%. This was a historic moment in our town’s history, as it was 32 years ago that West Windsor first voted to make our municipal elections nonpartisan. Moving back to partisan elections would have been a very substantial change in our entire election process.
When we learned of the signature-gathering drive to put the partisan question on the ballot, we quickly formed an opposition campaign and created the “Keep West Windsor Non-partisan” committee (www.KeepWestWindsorNonPartisan.com). Our campaign was a true grass roots effort of residents from all backgrounds and political parties.
We would like to sincerely thank our supporters and volunteers for their outstanding efforts. So many people contributed their time and energy.
People came to speak at town council meetings, knocked on doors, made phone calls, engaged on social media, wrote letters, stuffed envelopes, made donations, put a lawn sign in their yard, and spoke to their friends and neighbors to spread the word. It was an incredible effort, and we could not be more appreciative.
We were very significantly outspent, with large amounts of money coming in from out-of-town to fund the vast majority of the “Yes” campaign.
For the first time in West Windsor’s 227-year history, “dark money” entered a campaign. But as The Beatles once sang, “money can’t buy me love.” West Windsor’s elections are NOT for sale.
Some have suggested that the “No” movement was backed by folks from one particular political party. The truth is, our campaign was a true coalition of Independents, Democrats, and Republicans who were united in rejecting partisan politics.
An analysis of the data further demonstrates this. Mercer County reports that there were 23,152 registered voters in West Windsor, and 13,276 votes were cast (about 57%).
“No” received 8,703 votes, vs. 4,574 for “Yes.” There are only about 2,500 registered Republicans in West Windsor. Even without ONE single vote by a Republican, the “No” vote would have still prevailed by a wide margin.
Additionally, West Windsor has 16 voting districts. All districts except for one (district 8, by far the smallest with less than 300 registered voters, where the margin was only 4 votes) the “No” vote prevailed. This is an indicator of broad support throughout West Windsor, not just certain neighborhoods.
Finally, the “No” vote prevailed in all voting categories, including early voting (1,987 to 1,137), vote by mail (2,755 to 1,545), provisional (339 to 164), and election day voting (3,621 to 1,728).
We want to thank West Windsor residents for reaffirming the values of inclusivity, civility, independence, and emphasis on local issues that our system has represented for the last 32 years.
It’s time now for our wonderful community to come together and work towards making West Windsor the very best that it can be!
Andy Lupo
Joe Charles
Meena Tomar
Lupo is the chair, Charles is the vice-chair, and Tomar is the treasurer of Keep West Windsor NonPartisan.
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