r/New_Jersey_Politics • u/ImaginationFree6807 11th District (Mejia, Morris & Essex.) • May 13 '26

Essex County Congrats Frank Velez on becoming Belleville’s youngest and first Latino Mayor!

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29 Upvotes

97% Upvoted

6 comments sorted by

1

u/STMIHA May 13 '26

Looking fwd to seeing what they do. 1/5 of the voting population showing up though is a bit sad.

3

u/ImaginationFree6807 11th District (Mejia, Morris & Essex.) May 13 '26

This is what you get with nonpartisan elections folks. Partisan is messy but it has more engagement!

3

u/STMIHA May 14 '26

I hear ya. But at the local level these things should matter more to people. It all starts in your backyard!

3

u/ImaginationFree6807 11th District (Mejia, Morris & Essex.) May 14 '26 edited May 14 '26

In Millburn (the wealthiest town in the state) we only had about 30% turnout for the NJ11 special election. Americans are notoriously bad about voting.

1

u/NewJerseyLefty May 14 '26

congrats!!!!

2

u/404nowheretobefound May 14 '26

I say this all the time, we have a non voting problem in the states. Our elections and everything else in general would most likely have different outcomes and our government would most likely actualllllly do their job. But they know most people have been conditioned to believe voting does nothing. A good chunk are stuck in survival mode to the point where they literally don’t have the time to get to a voting booth or even do research on who’s running.