Politics & Government

Democratic Candidates Talk Low Voter Turnout, Door-to-Door Discussions

The candidates on the Democratic ticket are preparing for the November elections.

With the over and the summer beginning, the Democratic candidates for mayor and township council are looking toward the November elections, and the hope that the turnout then will be higher than it was earlier this month.

“Frankly, since we didn’t have a contest on our side, I didn’t expect a lot of Democrats to show,” said Democratic candidate for mayor Jim Ventantonio. “I expected in the about 300 or 400 range.”

“But we’re going to have to do a lot better in November,” he added.

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Ventantonio will be running for mayor against Republican candidate Dan Hayes and recently announced independent candidate George Jones.

Running for township council on the Democratic ticket will be John Rooney and Mary Pranzatelli, against Republican incumbents Matthew Moench and Christine Henderson Rose.

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Moench and Rose defeated challenger Michael Pestorius in the primary elections.

“Republicans had a challenger in their primary, which energized their base to come out and vote on primary day,” Pranzatelli said. “The Democratic party did not have a challenger, so we saw the most loyal part of our core base come out to support us.”

Pranzatelli said she believes turnout will be better in the November elections.

“I believe in November, we will see a great number of Democrats, Independents and disenfranchised Republicans rally behind Jim, John and I,” she said. “Based on the outcome of these primary numbers, we can clearly see that the residents of Bridgewater are ready for a change with their local government officials.”

Rooney said the biggest issue with turnout is the fact that this is an off-year election, so it may not attract as many voters.

“The state Senate is at the top, so it’s not like 2012 where we’re going to have a presidential election,” he said. “That will draw more people.”

But in November, Rooney said, he is hoping to see more than the about 10 percent of voters that showed up in the June primaries.

“We have so many Independents these days and they’re mostly excluded from the process in that they’re not declared Democrat or Republican,” he said. “Our numbers were pretty much on target with an off year.”

And now the candidates are focused on preparing their campaigns, particularly as they will be going door to door to speak to residents about issues they believe are important to the township.

“We’re going to do a lot of walking around, and we will spend the next couple months just listening,” Ventantonio said. “I want to hear what people’s problems are, and we will get groups together to get an idea of what the people’s concerns are. We really like to hear from voters.”

“And that’s the next process until we start to heat up at the end of the summer,” he added.

Pranzatelli and Rooney agreed that going door to door is the biggest key to knowing the issues voters are focused on.

“I will be going to meet and greet Bridgewater residents to collect their ideas and thoughts,” Pranzatelli said. “I will be asking them what they want to see me do for them and the town of Bridgewater when they elect me as Bridgewater councilwoman.”

“We are going to be getting out there,” Rooney added. “We really have to be anywhere and everywhere that there’s planning board, zoning board and even board of education meetings where we have concerned parents.”

“Basically there is no substitute for being everywhere we can be,” he said. “We will certainly make it our priority and business to know what’s going on in town.”

The biggest issues the Democratic candidates will be focusing on will be spending and taxes in town.

“Taxes are always a problem with the impact on property taxes,” Ventantonio said. “We have to look at new and different ideas. Things are easy to manage in good times, hard in bad times. We have to look at how we can maximize efficiencies and still provide critical services.”

Rooney said they will be looking at spending over the next few months.

“We want to look at what programs are coming forward, what we can do given the times of municipal governance and what programs we could possibly eliminate so we won’t have to raise taxes on residents for the future,” he said. “We don’t know right now what could be cut.”

In addition, Ventantonio said, other issues considered will be infrastructure in the township and the Route 22 corridor.

“Many roads are in serious disrepair,” he said. “And with the Route 22 corridor, we have to fix some of those concerns. That’s most of Bridgewater, and we are looking at solutions.”

Ventantonio said the goal is to be innovative in looking at ideas and fresh solutions to old problems. His goal, he said, is not to stay focused on the Democratic party, but to stretch across party lines and reach out to everyone.

“I am definitely going to reach out to Democrats, but I’m also going to reach out to Republicans and Independents,” he said. “Everyone has something to say. With progress, not politics, we can see how to solve problems.”

At this point, Ventantonio said, it’s just time to see what they can do to help the residents.

“I am looking forward to November,” he said. “It’s going to be an interesting summer.”


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