Column: Voting's Better Than Going to the Dentist

It’s October and the election season is officially underway.

Who cares?

Most voters avoid legislative elections like they avoid the dentist. The last time the state senate topped the ballot in New Jersey, in 2007, fewer than one third of registered voters went to the polls.

Worse still, that was less than a quarter of all those old enough to vote: Roughly 1.6 million people age 18 and over were not even registered.

Voter turnout is not an area in which Morris County excels. In 2007, just 34 percent of those registered cast ballots, barely better than New Jersey as a whole and far behind the top three counties—Cape May, Salem and Hunterdon—which were all more than 40 percent.

The New Jersey Division of Elections has yet to put out updated voter registration statistics, but about 310,000 Morris County residents were registered to vote in the June primary. That’s out of about 375,000 people age 18 and older.

The state has not posted any turnout results from the primary, either, but consider that fewer than a quarter of registered Republicans in Morris cast ballots for Senate candidates and there were primary contests in two of the six districts into which the county has been carved. On the Democratic side, where there were no contests, fewer than 1 in 10 of those registered went to the polls.

Don’t forget the 65,000 who were old enough to vote, but have not even bothered to register.

This is really abysmal in a nation that lauds its democracy as better than any other nation’s political system and in a county that is among the wealthiest and best educated in this nation.

Because of our freedom, we can choose not to vote. But that’s a slap at the founding fathers, those who fought for our freedom and those who continue to fight for it.

So it’s time to wake up and pay attention to who’s running and what they stand for.

There are at least full slates in all the districts with at least a finger in Morris (that includes the 24th District, which also serves Hopatcong in Sussex County, among other communities). The Assembly ballots in Districts 21 and 24, and both the Senate and Assembly in the 26th, have independents running in addition to Republicans and Democrats. Wouldn’t it be nice, for once, to see someone other than a major party candidate win? It would help shake up the political landscape in Trenton.

The state's capital has been slightly more willing to work in a bipartisan manner than the nation’s, perhaps because with a Republican in the governor’s office and Democrats in charge of both houses, they have to.

It would also be nice to see two-party government in Morris County, where it’s been more than 35 years since a Democrat sat on the freeholder board—and then only one, and then only because of the anti-Republican backlash from Watergate. He was one of only two Democrats on the board throughout the entire 20th Century. Most people living in Morris today probably don’t even know his name—it’s a great trivia question (Doug Romaine).

There should be ample opportunities to find out more about the candidates over the next month: from news outlets, from debates, from flyers and mailings. Search the candidates out on the web: just about everyone has a website or Facebook page these days.

Don't know what district you're in (the lines changed in the spring due to redistricting?) you can find out by visiting the elections division.

And while he’s not on the ballot, Gov. Chris Christie may as well be. He stirs powerful emotions among opponents and proponents. If nothing else, cast a vote in November to support what he’s done (by voting for those who voted with him), or oppose him.

But get informed and add Nov. 8 to your appointment calendar. It doesn't hurt nearly as much as the dentist.

Who’s running in Morris County districts:

21st, Senate
Thomas Kean Jr., R
Paul Swinicke, D

21st, Assembly
Norman Albert, D
Bruce Bergen, D
Jon Bramnick, R
Nancy Munoz, R
Darren Young, I

24th, Senate
Steven Oroho, R
Edwin Selby, D

24th, Assembly
Gary Chiusano, R
Leslie Huhn, D
Alison McHose, R
Jim Nye, D
Mark Quick, I
Rose Ann Salanitri, I

25th, Senate
Tony Bucco, R
Rick Thoeni, D

25th Assembly
Anthony Bucco, R
Michael Patrick Carroll, R
Gale Colucci, D
George Stafford, D

26th, Senate
Wasim Khan, D
Joe Pennacchio, R
Joseph Scafa, I

26th, Assembly
Alex DeCroce, R
Elliot Isibor, D
Joseph Raich, D
Michael Spector, I
Jay Webber, R

27th, Senate
Richard Codey, D
William Eames, R

27th, Assembly
Nicole Hagner, R
Lee Holtzman, R
Mila Jasey, D
John McKeon, D

40th, Senate
Kevin O’Toole, R
John Zunic, D

40th, Assembly
William Brennan, D
Cassandra Lazzara, D
Scott Rumana, R
David Russo, R

Colleen O'Dea is a writer, editor, researcher, data analyst, web page designer and mapper with almost three decades in the news business. Her column appears Mondays.