On the afternoon of September 9, New Jersey Governor Chris Christie vetoed AB 4237, a bill that the legislature had passed in June. The bill moved the state election (for 2013 only) from November 5 to October 16. Since the Governor already set the special U.S. Senate election for October 16, moving the election for state office would have saved $12,000,000 in election administration costs. September 9 was the deadline for the Governor to act. If he had done nothing, the bill would have taken effect.
The veto message said that voters would be confused if the state election were moved from November to October. Of course, if he had signed it soon after it passed, there would have been ample opportunity to educate voters that there was only going to be one election this year, in October. See this story.
It is startling that New Jersey allows its Governor over 60 days in which to decide whether to sign or veto a bill. That allows to much leverage for the executive branch.
Jeff Daiell
It’s all political and isn’t the governor up for re-election this year? So it probably helps him to keep the general in November.
What morons caused the Oct 16 date to occur ???
Most SANE regimes have USA Senate vacancies filled on regular general election dates — to save taxpayer cash for other schemes.
The Governor set that date. And, yes, he is up for re-election this year.
So, vote for Robert DePasquale in the special election. This is the best way to vote against Booker while sending a message to the NJ GOP. http://depasqualeforsenate.com/
How much did the partisan primaries cost?
If New Jersey had a Top 2 primary in September, the special senate election primary could have been combined – and turnout would have likely been better.
And a Top One system like in Soviet Russia would be better still. 100% turnout and a very clear winner!
Governor Christie intentionally set the date for the special election to the Senate on a different day from the election for Governor. He knows a Democrat is favored for Senate, and that the Senate election will be a major effort for the Democrats, so he wanted to prevent that effort – especially for GOTV – from influencing his vote totals in the election for Governor.
Christie is quite willing to waste taxpayers money – why should he be different from any other northeastern Republican.
NICE ONE Casual Bystander! 😀 If anybody here isn’t familiar with how I feel about top two…just know I hate it. REALLY, REALLY HATE IT.