Maplewood – On Thursday, December 18th, the South Orange-Maplewood Board of Education passed a resolution expressing support for proportional ranked-choice voting. They have expressed their support for ranked-choice voting enabling legislation, such as the Municipal and School Board Voting Options Act, which would authorize cities and towns to use ranked-choice voting (RCV) for their local elections. Maplewood and South Orange are part of the growing list of towns that have expressed a desire to use RCV for their local and school board elections, including Hoboken, Jersey City, Red Bank, Princeton, Montclair, South Brunswick, Collingswood, and others. However, the South Orange-Maplewood School District is the first school district in the state to pass such a resolution.

Ranked-choice voting (RCV) is an electoral system that allows voters to rank candidates on their ballots in order of preference and ensures that the winning candidate(s) represent the views of a majority of voters. Used in countries around the world, RCV has been implemented statewide in Maine and Alaska and adopted in cities such as New York City. Advocates argue that RCV better captures voters' true preferences, helps reduce political polarization, and mitigates problems like strategic voting and the “spoiler effect” that often undermine voter confidence and candidate fairness in traditional elections.

With more towns set to consider resolutions of their own in the coming months, this victory in South Orange and Maplewood is yet another step toward a more sensible and democratic voting system for New Jersey.

Statement from Jeffery Bennett (South Orange-Maplewood Board of Education Member):

Note: The following statement represents the personal views of Mr. Bennett and is not issued on behalf of the Board of Education.

"The Block Vote election system is the simplest way to elect a board, but I don't think it's consistently the most democratic.  Block Vote can hit the rocks in a big candidate field or when it's a trio against a singleton. Even when the winning side is authentically a majority, is it fair to give all three seats to the same side so that the outcome is winner-takes-all, loser-gets-nothing? Is Block Vote's occasional tendency to create a kind of two-party election the ideal we want? I'm very proud of the South Orange-Maplewood BOE for supporting a reform that will allow more proportional outcomes in our elections."

Statement from Will Meyer (South Orange-Maplewood Board of Education 1st Vice President):

Note: The following statement represents the personal views of Mr. Meyer and is not issued on behalf of the Board of Education.

“Ranked choice voting holds the promise of giving greater representation to the diverse priorities of the voting public and leveling the playing field for candidates. In school districts where the annual elections are hotly contested, we often see full electoral sweeps each year that alternate between ideologies, while the public sentiment remains closely split. Allowing the option of RCV could reduce this pendulum effect. I am proud to have supported this resolution asking that the NJ School Boards Association support legislation to provide for that option.”

Statement from Becky Scheer (Maplewood resident, League of Women Voters, and Voter Choice NJ volunteer):

“We are seeing more candidates run in local elections, driving a renewed interest in RCV with both the public and our state legislature. This resolution puts our BoE at the forefront of what is going to be a big movement in our state.”

Voter Choice NJ (VCNJ) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization focused exclusively on nonpartisan education and advocacy for ranked-choice voting (RCV). VCNJ is a completely volunteer-based organization. It runs local campaigns for RCV across the state and coordinates advocacy on RCV at the state level.