Newark Mayor Ras Baraka would support a constitutional amendment to eliminate New Jersey’s odd-year elections, a move that would see the state elect governors and state legislators in federal election years.
“Let me just say that straight off that that we think that that should happen, said Baraka, one of six announced candidates for the Democratic gubernatorial nomination.
The proposal came as part of Baraka’s “Democracy Reimagined” Plan that would include other sweeping changes: campaign finance reform to end a political party’s unlimited spending, same-day voter registration and automatic registration for 18-year-olds, restoring the Open Public Records Act, expansion of public financing to legislative, county and municipal elections, and full enfranchisement of incarcerated and formerly incarcerated individuals.
“Same-day registration and voting would remove barriers for people who want to participate but face registration deadlines that only serve to keep voters out,” he said. “When more people vote, we are stronger as a democracy and as a state.”
Baraka also wants the constitutional office of the County Clerk to be non-partisan.
His plan also includes allowing sixteen-year-olds to register and vote in school board elections, something Newark passed earlier this year but has not yet implemented.
Democrats have discussed ending off-year elections privately over the last few years, but none have put forth a public proposal. Gubernatorial and legislative elections in a presidential year could strengthen the Democratic Party’s grip on state government.
“Our off-cycle elections are crippling us,” Baraka said. “They waste millions of taxpayer dollars and depress turnout, leaving many of our most critical elections – like municipal, legislative, and gubernatorial races – with embarrassingly low participation.”
The three-term Newark mayor cited reduced voter turnout in odd-year elections.
“We need to align all elections with the national cycle so that our turnout is consistent, our voices are unified, and we aren’t needlessly wasting millions of taxpayer dollars every year,” he said. “We are one state, we need one vote.:
Baraka suggested that he would review elections with extraordinarily weak turnout numbers, like the 9% of voters coming out last week in Trenton, where Councilwoman Jenna Figueroa Kettenburg won a runoff by just one vote.
“These are reasonable discussions to have when you have a few people coming out to vote and people are winning with a very small or sliver of the population of registered voters, I think that’s problematic, and we should be doing everything that we can to increase that,” he said.
Baraka said he would support changes in state law to speed up New Jersey’s ability to fill a vacant congressional seat – it took the state five months to elect a new House member after Rep. Donald Payne, Jr. (D-Newark) died in April – but appeared unconcerned that the two Democratic gubernatorial candidates who currently serve in Congress, Reps. Josh Gottheimer (D-Tenafly) and Mikie Sherrill (D-Montclair), might trigger 2026 special elections.
“Hopefully, we won’t have to think about that because both of them will be going back,” Baraka said.
Baraka also bemoaned the weakened state of local media in New Jersey; only Politico and the New Jersey Globe were on a press call where Baraka announced his “Democracy Reimagined” proposal.
“The shrinking of the press corps has an immediate impact on democracy, particularly because of the access to information that people have,” Baraka said. “It has a very direct and clear impact on engagement and participation in elections, because if you don’t know what people think or believe, you don’t really know what to do, and so you rely on other people’s information for the most part, and it becomes troublesome.”
Instead, with newspapers shutting down – the Newark Star-Ledger will stop printing on January 31 for the first time since 1832 – Baraka worries that the news desert, particularly in urban areas, specifically noting that “the African-American press has disappeared.”
“It’s a free-for-all on social media, with a lot of unreliable information,” he stated. “It’s alarming that the press is disappearing.”
As part of his platform, Baraka maintains that “New Jersey has the potential to set the standard for a healthy, thriving democracy but we have to lean into, not away from, our Democratic values.”
“Let’s make it easier to vote, make government more transparent, and ensure every voice is heard – not just those of the privilege,” Baraka said. “By uniting around these policies, we can show the nation what a truly fair and inclusive democracy can be.”