58-515: Harbourton is an unincorporated community located within Hopewell Township in Mercer County , in the U.S. state of New Jersey . It is located along County Route 579 at the intersection with Harbourton-Mount Airy Road. The Harbourton Historic District, encompassing the community, was listed on the state and national registers of historic places in 1974. The Harbourton Historic District
116-498: A Senator leaves office before their eight-year term ends, the first substitute takes their place, and then the second if needed. On the other hand, in political systems with a culture of by-elections, filling vacancies under Block Voting can be harder than in other voting methods. This is because by-elections to fill a single seat in a multi-member district can be expensive. In the Philippine Senate that has staggered elections ,
174-461: A charter, unique to this municipality, allows its government to be tailor-made to its needs. A Charter Study Commission is one of two options available to residents of New Jersey to pursue a change in their form of government. The other option is a direct petition. The charter study commission approach is only available under the Faulkner Act. A charter study commission can be formed by a vote of
232-416: A county superintendent of schools (the state Department of Education 's representative) and executive county superintendent of schools (gubernatorial appointments whose duties include reducing district spending, collaboration and shared services) in each county. State law authorizes school districts: The state Commissioner of Education has the power of "state intervention", to intervene in governance of
290-467: A five-member Board of Trustees elected for staggered three-year terms. The board selects a president and a treasurer from among the members. New incorporations under this form were stopped in 1961. While there are 4 municipalities that retain the Village type of government ( Loch Arbour , Ridgefield Park , Ridgewood and South Orange ), none of them still use the Village form of government. Loch Arbour
348-425: A form of government and vary in size from large, densely populated areas to much smaller hamlets . The town form of government dates back to the late 19th century when towns were first incorporated in the state. The town government law was rewritten in 1988. In this form of government, a mayor is elected at large plus eight councilmen – two from each of four wards. The mayor presides over council meetings and votes as
406-496: A landslide. While many criticize block voting's tendency to create landslide victories, some cite it as a strength. Since the winners of a block voting election generally represent the same slate or group of voters, there is greater agreement among those elected, potentially leading to a reduction in political gridlock . Block plurality voting, like single-winner plurality voting , is particularly vulnerable to tactical voting . Supporters of relatively unpopular third parties have
464-514: A local public school district (and to intervene in the areas of instruction and program, operations, personnel, and fiscal management) if the Commissioner has determined that a school district has failed, or is unable, to take corrective actions necessary to establish a thorough and efficient system of education. When the state intervenes in governance of a school district, the board of education acts in an advisory capacity only, and ultimate authority
522-405: A member of the council. The mayor has veto power over ordinances that can be overridden by a two-thirds vote of the council. All appointments to municipal offices are performed by the council. Currently, the state has 15 towns. The township form of government has a group of elected officials (the township committee) that serves as both the executive and legislative authority. This form of government
580-598: A minor party which has only nominated one candidate. Thus, block voting may look like single non-transferable voting . This system sometimes fosters the creation of an electoral alliance between political parties or groups as opposed to a coalition . This has been the case in the National Assembly of Mauritius ; the New Hampshire House of Representatives , with the election of multiple Free State Project as well as New Hampshire Liberty Alliance members; and in
638-711: A neighboring township such as Middlebush, New Jersey . Some smaller communities are incorporated into larger urban areas, such as when Greenville was merged into Jersey City as a neighborhood . New Jersey distinguishes between regional, consolidated, and countywide districts and those serving single municipalities. There are also non-operating school districts, which are those districts that do not operate any school facilities and where all students attend school in other districts as part of sending/receiving relationships . The majority of school districts in New Jersey are established for general purposes, have boundaries equivalent to
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#1733085775048696-403: A number of features which can make it unrepresentative of the voters' intentions. Block voting regularly produces complete landslide majorities for the group of candidates with the highest level of support. Additionally, like first past the post methods, if there are many parties running and voters do not engage in tactical voting , a small cohesive group of voters, making up only a minority of
754-483: A series of checkboxes, preferential block voting uses a preferential ballot . A slate of clones of the top preferred candidate will win every seat under both systems, however in preferential block voting this is instead the instant-runoff winner. In Brazil, where Senatorial elections alternate between FPTP and block voting, each main candidate is registered along with two substitutes. Votes in either election are cast and counted based on these three-candidate slates; when
812-414: A single round of voting. The party-list version of block voting is party block voting (PBV), also called the general ticket , which also elects members by plurality in multi-member districts. In such a system, each party puts forward a slate of candidates, a voter casts just one vote, and the party winning a plurality of votes sees its whole slate elected, winning all the seats. Plurality block voting
870-656: A store until 1962. It is now a private residence. The Baptist Church features Carpenter Gothic architecture. All of Hopewell Township, including Harbourton, is served by the Hopewell Valley Regional School District . Local government in New Jersey#Unincorporated communities Local government in New Jersey is composed of counties and municipalities. Local jurisdictions in New Jersey differ from those in some other states because
928-528: A substantial incentive to avoid wasted votes by casting all of their votes for a slate of candidates from a major party. Parties in block voting systems can also benefit from strategic nomination . Coalitions are actively hurt when they have more candidates than there are seats to fill, as vote-splitting will occur. Similarly, a coalition has a substantial incentive to nominate a full slate of candidates, as otherwise supporting voters may cast some of their remaining votes for opposing candidates. Bullet voting
986-480: Is a 7-acre (2.8 ha) historic district encompassing the community around the junction of Harbourton/Rocktown and Harbourton/Mt. Airy Roads. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places on December 31, 1974 for its significance in agriculture, architecture, and commerce. The district includes seven contributing buildings . The oldest section of the village store was built in 1768, and operated as
1044-444: Is a strategy in which a voter only votes for a single candidate in an attempt to stop them being beaten by additional choices. Because the voter is essentially wasting a portion of their vote, bullet voting is only a good strategy when the voter has a strong preference for their favorite and is unsure of, and/or indifferent to, the other candidates' relative chances of winning, for example, if the voter supports an independent candidate or
1102-433: Is a type of block voting method for multi-winner elections . Each voter may cast as many votes as the number of seats to be filled. The candidates with the most votes are elected. The usual result when the candidates divide into parties is that the most-popular party in the district sees its full slate of candidates elected, even if the party does not have support of majority of the voters. The term plurality at-large
1160-462: Is assigned as a liaison to one or more departments of the county. Five counties (Atlantic, Bergen, Essex, Hudson, and Mercer) have a separately elected county executive . A sixth county, Union, has a county executive that is appointed by the board, analogous to the council–manager municipal form of government. In these counties, the Board of County Commissioners retains only legislative authority. Most of
1218-559: Is distinct from party block voting . In a block voting election, all candidates run against each other for m number of positions, where m is commonly called the district magnitude. Each voter selects up to m candidates on the ballot. Each of the voters have m votes, and are able to cast no more than one per candidate. They cannot vote for the same candidate more than once, as is permitted in cumulative voting . Voters are permitted to cast their votes across candidates of different parties ( ticket splitting ). The m candidates with
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#17330857750481276-696: Is in a state district superintendent appointed by the State Board of Education. From 1987 to 2005, the State Board of Education had the power to take over an entire school district and manage it as a "state-operated school district", which was replaced by the legislature in 2005 with state intervention. Using this power, the state has assumed the operation of Newark Public Schools , Jersey City Public Schools , and Paterson Public Schools , which are in various stages of returning governance to local control: In Jersey City, governance has been restored to local control in
1334-410: Is in common usage in elections for representative members of a body who are elected or appointed to represent the whole membership of the body (for example, a city, state or province, nation, club or association). Where the system is used in a territory divided into multi-member electoral districts the system is commonly referred to as "block voting" or the "bloc vote". These systems are usually based on
1392-538: Is one of the oldest and is derived from the town meeting form of government used in New England , where the township committee has similar functions to the board of selectmen . The township committee has either three or five members elected at large. Every year, the committee chooses one of its members to be the "mayor", becoming the moderator for meetings of the township committee but having no special powers. In general, all legislative and executive powers are exercised by
1450-1744: Is the country with the most extensive experience in plurality-at-large voting. Positions where there are multiple winners usually use plurality-at-large voting, the exception is the election for sectoral representatives in the House of Representatives . The members of the Senate and all local legislatures are elected via this method. The members of the Interim Batasang Pambansa (the parliament) were also elected under this method in 1978 . The following countries use block plurality voting (not including party block voting using plurality) in their national electoral systems: Two-round system (TRS) in single-member districts, two-round block voting (BV) in dual-member districts, and List PR (simple quota largest remainder; closed-list) in larger districts + twice 20 nationally List PR (one set of 20 reserved for women) Block plurality voting (BV) in single nationwide constituency for 16 seats; D'Hondt method (8 seats) First-past-the-post (FPTP/SMP) 14 seats + Block plurality voting 6 seats All cantons, except: First-past-the-post (FPTP/SMP) in local constituencies + Block plurality voting (BV) nationwide First-past-the-post (FPTP/SMP) in single-member districts, Block plurality voting (BV) in multi-member districts seats + Block plurality voting (BV) nationwide First-past-the-post (FPTP/SMP) in single-member districts + Block plurality voting (BV) nationwide First-past-the-post (FPTP/SMP) in single-member districts + Block plurality voting (BV) nationwide Other countries using block voting: In France ,
1508-428: Is usually first among equals with no powers over and above the other commissioners. The Municipal Manager Law was enacted in 1923 and is an optional form of government available to any type of municipality. Under this form of government, a municipal council composed of three, five, seven, or nine members is elected at-large with a term of office typically of four years. The council appoints several key officials, namely
1566-556: The United States for having five distinct types of incorporated municipalities. Each type of municipality has equal legal standing, rights, and powers as any other type or form. Unlike other parts of the United States, New Jersey does not have different tiers of power or legal standing for its municipal governments. Each of the five types has an associated form of government of exactly the same title. By default municipalities have
1624-582: The Vermont Senate , with the elections of Vermont Progressive Party members Tim Ashe and Anthony Pollina . Historically, similar situations arose within the multi-member constituencies in the Parliament of the United Kingdom . Block voting, or block plurality voting, is often compared with preferential block voting as both systems tend to produce landslide victories for similar candidates. Instead of
1682-403: The boroughitis phenomenon of the late 19th century led to the incorporation of large numbers of new boroughs. A city in the context of local government in New Jersey refers to one of five types and one of eleven forms of municipal government. There are 52 cities in New Jersey. Despite the widely held perception of a city as a large, urban area , cities in New Jersey have a confused history as
1740-469: The "ward system" which is a municipal adaptation of single member plurality. The sole exception is London, Ontario which has recently changed to the Alternative Vote . When Toronto was amalgamated in 1997, the new entity's first election used a similar rule. From 1871 to 1988, British Columbia had some multi-member ridings using plurality-at-large, and others elected under single member plurality , with
1798-659: The Census Bureau's classification does not reflect the underlying state law that draws no distinction among the five types. New Jersey is divided into 21 counties, each of which is governed by a Board of County Commissioners ), which typically serves as both the legislative and executive body. The boards consist of three, five, seven, or nine members. The means of election of county commissioners varies from all county commissioners being elected in districts, all being elected at-large, or being elected through mixed district and at-large county commissioners. Elections are first past
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1856-537: The Faulkner Act, municipalities can choose one of four different options for their form of government. They are: New Jersey municipalities are not required to be governed by the Walsh Act, the 1923 Municipal Manager Law or the four forms of the Optional Municipal Charter Law (Faulkner Act). A community that finds all optional forms unsuitable may request a special charter from the state legislature. Such
1914-568: The board consists of nine members unless by law the number was reduced to three, five or seven members, elected at annual school elections for terms of three years, or appointed board of education, where members are appointed by the mayor or other chief executive officer of the municipality for five-year terms (for five-member boards) and three-year terms (for seven- and nine-member boards). Board of education members must be United States citizens, residents of their school districts for at least one year immediately preceding their appointment or election to
1972-585: The board, be registered to vote in the district, must be able to read and write English, cannot receive any compensation for their board service, and their conduct is governed by a code of ethics and the New Jersey School Ethics. All meetings of boards of education must be held in public, with certain exceptions, according to the Open Public Meetings Act. There is a superintendent for each district (which may be shared between districts), and
2030-509: The boundaries of a given municipality—or even a given county. All local general purpose governments have equivalent legal powers, with the different forms and types reflecting the historical circumstances of the municipality's incorporation, similar to New England towns . For statistical purposes, the United States Census Bureau treats only boroughs, cities, towns, and villages as " municipalities ", and townships as " townships ";
2088-475: The committee as a whole. The committee, however, may appoint an administrator to oversee the day-to-day operations of the municipality. The township form of government is only available to municipalities that are of the township type. Out of the 240 townships in the state, the township form of government is used by 141. The village form of government was made possible by the Village Act of 1891. This form comprises
2146-506: The communities have official recognition as a census-designated place , such as Somerset, New Jersey which is part of Franklin Township . Other communities have their own ZIP Code because they have their own post office such as Neshanic Station (ZIP Code 08853), which is part of Branchburg Township , or Deans , which is part of South Brunswick Township . Other communities were once single-owner large farms that were later incorporated into
2204-423: The election of municipal councilors takes place by majority vote plurinominal, in two rounds with panachage : In British Columbia , Canada, all local governments are elected using bloc voting for city councils and for other multi-member bodies (there called "at-large" voting). In other Canadian provinces, smaller cities are generally elected under plurality-at-large, while larger cities are generally elected under
2262-627: The entire area of the state is part of a municipality ; each of the 564 municipalities is in exactly one county ; and each of the 21 counties has more than one municipality. New Jersey has no independent cities , nor consolidated city-counties . The forms of municipality in New Jersey are more complex than in most other states, though, potentially leading to misunderstandings regarding the governmental nature of an area and what local laws apply. All municipalities can be classified as one of five types of local government— Borough , City , Township , Town , and Village —and one of twelve forms of government,
2320-470: The first class (cities with a population of over 150,000) the board of education must consist of nine members, and board members are appointed to three-year terms by the mayor or other chief executive of the municipality that constitutes the district. Type II school districts include all local districts in municipalities other than cities, all consolidated school districts, and all regional school districts, and can have either an elected board of education, where
2378-515: The first five being historically associated with the five types of government and the other seven being non-standard "optional" forms provided by the New Jersey Legislature . To make matters more complex, New Jersey also distinguishes between regional, consolidated, and countywide school districts and school districts that serve only a single municipality. As well, the total area of any given airport may or may not lie completely within
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2436-645: The form of an elected school board, although the state district superintendent remains to manage curriculum functions, while in Newark and Paterson governance has yet to change from state to local management. Plurality-at-large voting Condorcet methods Positional voting Cardinal voting Quota-remainder methods Approval-based committees Fractional social choice Semi-proportional representation By ballot type Pathological response Strategic voting Paradoxes of majority rule Positive results Plurality block voting
2494-401: The form of government which corresponds to their type, i.e. a Township has the Township form of government. In New Jersey a municipality can choose a different form of government if its citizens do not wish to operate under the form that matches its type. The borough form of government is New Jersey's most common, being used by 253 of the state's municipalities. Although it was once quite rare,
2552-417: The governing body. Alternatively, a ballot question to form a charter study commission can be performed through a petition or by the existing municipal governing body enacting an ordinance to form a commission. Voters simultaneously vote yes / no to form a commission and also vote to select its members (if it passes), with the top five candidates becoming the members of the commission. There is no territory in
2610-414: The most votes (who may or may not obtain a majority of available votes or support from the majority of the voters) are declared elected and will fill the positions. Due to multiple voting, when a party runs more than one candidate, it is impossible to know if the party had support of as many voters as the party tally of votes (up to number of voters participating in the election) or if it had support of just
2668-476: The municipal manager, tax assessor, auditor, clerk, treasurer, and attorney. The manager is the chief executive of the municipality and is responsible for appointing other officials and preparing the budget for council consideration. The manager serves only at the pleasure of the council. A mayor is also chosen from among the council members whose primary duty is to preside over council meetings. Only seven municipalities currently use this form of government. In 1950
2726-425: The municipality with which they are associated, and are classified as either Type I or Type II school districts. The schools of each public school district are governed by a board of education. Type I school districts include every local school district established in a city except where the district has changed its classification, and the board of education consists of five, seven or nine members, while in cities of
2784-478: The number of each varying from one election to the next. Other Canadian provincial legislatures have in the past used plurality-at-large or single transferable vote , but now all members of provincial legislatures are exclusively elected under single-member plurality. In Hong Kong , block voting is used for a tiny proportion of the territory's population to elect the members of the Election Committee , which
2842-433: The number of voters equivalent to the votes received by the most popular candidate and the other candidates of that party merely received votes from subset of that group. Candidates are running in a three-member district; each of the 10,000 voters may cast three votes (but do not have to). Voters may not cast more than one vote for a single candidate. Party A has about 35% support among the electorate, Party B around 25% and
2900-564: The post for single-member districts, and for at-large elections when only one seat is at stake. For at-large elections with more than one seat, plurality-at-large voting is used. All counties in New Jersey hold organizational meetings on or right after New Year's Day. At this time the boards elect members to leadership positions on the boards. Depending upon the specific board these offices include director, deputy director, president, vice-president, chair, chair pro tempore, and vice-chair. Also at this organizational meeting each county commissioner
2958-558: The remaining voters primarily support independent candidates. Candidates of Party A won in a landslide, even though they only received a plurality (35–37%) among the voters (10,000). This is because most parties run as many candidates as there are open seats and voters of a party usually do not split their ticket, but vote for all candidates of that party. By contrast, a single transferable vote system would likely elect 1 candidate from party A, 1 candidate from party B and 1 independent candidate in this scenario. The block voting system has
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#17330857750483016-503: The rest of the counties also appoint a county supervisor or administrator who is responsible for routine administrative operations of the county government. New Jersey counties have powers that are intermediate between the broad powers of counties in Pennsylvania and the limited powers of counties in New York . Counties in New Jersey do not have tax collecting power. New Jersey is unique in
3074-465: The seat is filled up on the next scheduled election, such as in 1951, 1955 and 2001. There are alternative ways of selecting a replacement in such systems: one way is to fill any seat that becomes empty by appointing the most popular unsuccessful candidate in the last election, i.e. a countback . This was used in the City of Edmonton (Canada) following the 1905 Edmonton municipal election . The Philippines
3132-550: The state legislature enact a special charter. The Walsh Act was enacted in the Progressive Era as a way to remove corruption and political influence from local politics. Voters elect three or five commissioners in non-partisan elections. Each commissioner is in charge of specific departments within the municipality, and all serve four-year concurrent terms. The commissioners exercise both legislative and executive powers. The commissioners elect one of their members as mayor, but he
3190-409: The state legislature passed the Optional Municipal Charter Law, more familiarly known as the Faulkner Act. In the post-World War II era there was a general push toward more efficiency and professionalism in municipal government, as well as the creation of stronger executives at all levels of government. The 1947 New Jersey State Constitution , a contemporary document, reflects these trends as well. Under
3248-433: The state of New Jersey that is not part of an incorporated municipality. Some communities in the state of New Jersey are well-defined areas or neighborhoods that are part of one or more incorporated municipalities, but they are not independent municipalities in their own right. While these communities may have a sense of "communal character" and unique identity, they are all located within incorporated municipalities. Some of
3306-399: The voters, can elect all the open seats by merely constituting a plurality . Under block voting, a slate of clones of the top-place candidate may win every available seat. A voter does have the option to vote for candidates of different political parties if they wish, but if the largest group of voters have strong party loyalty, there is nothing the other voters or parties can do to prevent
3364-536: Was the last to do so, but on December 20, 2011, its residents voted to change to the Walsh Act form of government, with a three-member board of commissioners. New Jersey municipalities are not restricted in their form of government by the type of municipality. Any type of municipality that chooses to do so can adopt one of the six standard optional forms of government listed below, with some exceptions. Municipalities may also adopt non-standard forms of government by having
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