How can Jersey City and Hoboken handle December 2 runoffs just 13 days after certification?

Recent legislative changes to the election calendar create complications in non-partisan municipal runoffs and potentially forces election officials to immediately violate at least some state laws.

Candidates for mayor and city council in Jersey City and Hoboken must get a majority of votes – 50% plus one – in the November non-partisan municipal election to win; otherwise, they must compete in a December 2 runoff.

With a large field, few believe any of the mayoral candidates will win outright, making the runoff inevitable.

The short window to prepare and print ballots while strictly following state law is impossible.

“We’re flying by the seat of our pants here,” a top election official told the New Jersey Globe.  “There are so many contradictions.  They update some laws, but not all.”

The results of the November general election aren’t certified until November 19, and the deadline to contest that election in court is December 6 – four days after the runoff date.

The deadline to begin sending out vote-by-mail ballots is 45 days before an election, but that’s October 18, more than two weeks before the November election.  Properly postmarked mail-in ballots may arrive as late as November 10; voters have until November 15 to submit cure letters that repair technical deficiencies to their VBM ballot.  It’s also not clear if the municipalities will have three days of early, in-person voting.

Technically, ballots really shouldn’t go out until the election is certified.  In practicality, election officials power through and ignore some statutes.

“We do the best we can and hope we don’t get sued,” another election official said.

This could require a legislative fix.

One Jersey City council race went to a runoff in 2021; on election night, it was certain that Councilman Richard Boggiano was more than six points short of 50%, and fairly clear – but not absolutely so – that Kevin Bing’s 164-vote lead over Tom Zuppa was enough to secure a runoff berth.

Two years later in Hoboken, it was clear that a runoff was necessary and who the two candidates would be.

There is also a November special election for a city council seat in Newark’s Central Ward.  But special elections don’t have runoffs.

Among the unworkable laws still on the books but impossible to implement: if a candidate dies seven or more days before the runoff election, the candidate who finishes third would be placed on the ballot.  These days, voting begins too far in advance for that to work.