Village and School Elections – Nonpartisan Systems
Background
After a number of bitter and contentious campaigns for village office waged by the Republican and Democratic committees in the 1920s, members of both parties got together and developed the Non-Partisan System as an alternative system for selecting persons to run for Village elective office, and later for the School Board. The community is divided into five voting districts based on elementary school boundaries. Each elementary school area elects residents to participate on a committee whose mandate is to nominate candidates for election to office. The ultimate goal of the system is to select the most qualified candidate for office without any major political party affiliation, identification, or interests. What is most unique about the process is that in both the village and school nonpartisan systems, only one candidate is selected to run for each open position. Historically, the candidates proposed under the nonpartisan election systems have been voted into office. The Democratic and Republican committees traditionally do not propose candidates for the Village and School Boards, although opposition candidates have been or may be proposed by other independent parties. These elections are governed by State Election Law and State Education Law.
When elections are held
Village elections take place on the third Tuesday in March. School board elections take place on the third Tuesday in May. In addition to voting for school board trustees in May, the annual school budget is presented to voters for approval. Voters do not vote on the village budget.
Running the nonpartisan election systems
The village nonpartisan election system is administered by the Procedure Committee. The school nonpartisan election system is run by the Administrative Committee. Both election systems are publicly funded, primarily through financial contributions by residents to cover the expenses involved, including running the nominating committee elections (discussed below) and the proposal by the committees of candidates for village office and the school board.
Citizens' Nominating Committee and School Board Nominating Committee
There are parallels between both nominating committees.
Getting on the nominating committees: In each of the village and school election systems, a nonpartisan nominating committee is responsible for nominating candidates for village office and the school board, respectively. Each nominating committee is comprised of 30 elected members, six from each of the five elementary school areas, who serve staggered 3-year terms. Accordingly, in both election systems, two seats in each elementary school area become vacant each year.
Both election systems have established an annual process in which residents in each of the five elementary school areas propose a fellow resident or themselves to run for election to the nominating committee. In the case of the village election system, residents are candidates for election to the Citizens’ Nominating Committee (CNC); in the case of the school election system, residents are candidates for election to the School Board Nominating Committee (SBNC). In both cases, candidates must meet the legal voting requirements (
Being on a nominating committee: Each nominating committee has a schedule of dates and procedures for meeting to discuss qualifications, propose and interview candidates, perform “due diligence” and deliberate. Each committee functions as a party caucus, similar to major political parties, to select candidates for village office or the school board, as the case may be. The procedures for each nominating committee are governed by Resolutions which were adopted and have been amended from time to time by the voters.
Nominating candidates to office: Once they select the nominees to run for village office or the school board, the nominating committees become election committees. They must meet State law requirements for placing the names of the nominees on the ballots for the elections. It has not been custom for nominees to campaign or to be asked positions on any issues prior to the election since they are expected to make all decisions based upon the information available at the time and to reach consensus with their fellow office holders.
For more detailed information on each local election system, go to: www.scarsdaleprocedurecommittee.org for the village election system and http://scarsdalesbnc.blogspot.com for the school election system.
