I cannot recall the Freeholder who said this Tuesday at the Freeholder's meeting, but this particular freeholder said towns that have moved the Board of Education elections to November now have the first three candidates elected. He is suggesting a crowded ballot confuses voters so only the top three are winning. The next time there is a public portion I will ask the freeholder where this information is available.

I agree that this is an interface issue and not a political issue. No matter the outcome, we need to move to November elections all around. But Yvonne, it is a good idea at least so that we have an idea what the ballots will look like and the city can find solutions to a crowded ballot ahead of time, so I'm glad you've brought it up and made them think about it.

However, I don't think that anyone should fight against this based on what a ballot will look like, because that's a pretty superficial problem that can be fixed.

Yvonne,what you're concerned about is a not a political problem, but a software interface problem. While voting machines and their design are a perennial fustercluck, it's not because there's no solutions, it's because there's no will to implement them. Insisting that a single election date is bad because of these reasons is like solving air traffic control problems by closing airports.

FWIW, there have been open source, unhackable voting programs developed by software engineers interested in democracy. These could easily be used with screens plenty large enough for the sight impaired where you don't have to have every choice crammed on one page.

Instead every municipality nationwide reinvents the wheel or contracts with a small handful of for-profit proprietary systems that have proven insecure and/or undependable. Security through secrecy is a guaranteed failure. The current VW revelations are an example of the benefits of anyone being able to examine software. VW was safe as long as their code was secret.

"Los Angeles County voting to shift from inkblots to open source"
http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/20 ... source-voting-technology/

A former candidate just emailed me and said, candidates can add 6 words as a slogan. I forgot to request that. But I will mention it at the freeholder's meeting.

No my intentions is to help seniors with poor eyes. It is not right to change the ballot purpose for political reason at the expense of the public, especially the elderly.

I must admit, I came in here expecting to roll my eyes after seeing this thread was started by you, Yvonne, But I must apologize for that thought. This is actually a decent enough idea.

Your real intentions is probably to embarrass the Mayor somehow, but if not, good job!

I just returned from the Freeholders and requested a special favor and it was granted. I asked for a mock-up of what the Municipal elections would look like if moved to November. I asked the to have it on the screen size of a ballot and not enlarge. In 2017, there will be a governor election, freeholders, state elections, county elections both Democratic and Republican. I asked them to also place the school elections, 5 mayors running for office, their 15 at large candidates plus 5 ward candidates and 3 state questions that are usually on the ballot. Before the public votes to move the election to November I think the public should see what the ballot looks like. This will be available October 6th at the Freeholder's meeting which starts at 4:00 PM. One of the freeholder said the people who are winning the school board races are now the top 3 names on the ballot. He was referring to those communities that have changed to November.