April 23, 2009 (Kearny NJ)  The Kearny School Board election results are as follows:

- James Doran, Jr. 886 (23.16%)

- Paul Castelli 771 (20.16%)

-Lisa Anne Schalago 759 (19.84%)

- Jean C. McKeown 720 (18.82%)

- Rosemary Martins-Marks 683 (17.86%)

-Personal Choice 6     (0.16%)

The School Budget passed by a vote of  732 votes (54.67%) to 607 (45.33%).

As  usual there was a  low voter turnout for the School Board election.  Less than 1500 individuals  turned out to vote.  There is a discussion on our discussion board regarding the low voter turnout.  New Member I Know started off the discussion with the following post:

Out of 38,394 registered Kearny voters, only 1,561 actually took the time to vote in the Board of Education election. That is 4% of the total registered voters. All 38,294 registered voters were sent a sample ballot by the County Board of Elections so its not as though those that didn't vote didn't know there was an election. Even more pathetic is that out of those who voted, only 1,299 cast a vote on the Bd. of Ed. budget. That works out to 3.4%. So this means 1,299 registered voters approved a budget of over $47,000.000. The Bd. of Ed. budget is over 47% of the total tax doller in Kearny and despite all of the wailing over tax bills, the reality is that only a tiny percentage of people actually will take the few minutes it takes to go to the polls and vote.

Although I Know's numbers on registered voters is incorrect, the idea that a very small percentage of voters exercise their right to vote in school board elections is something that has been pointed out on KearnyOnTheWeb before.  Many residents don't exercise their right to vote for a variety of reasons.  First, people generally do not vote even in primary and general elections unless its a Presidential Election. Secondly, there is very little publicity generated by a school board election.  Thirdly, the election is held in April.  Fourthly, the polls are only open from 2 p.m. to 8 p.m. (not the traditional 7 a.m. to 8 p.m.)

Ironically, the School Board election is probably more important to Kearny's property taxpayers than is the Primary or General Election.  Over forty percent of the town's budget goes to education.  A small group of voters, many with special interests to continue the status quo, decide who sits on the board of education.  An incumbent who steps out of line, or out of favor, can be defeated by an organized group of individuals interested in maintaining an even expanding the school budget.  The solution: move School Board elections to November and the voter turnout will be greater and you can save the expense of paying poll workers twice.

What do you think? Join the Discussion on our Discussion Board.