Episode 2118
New Jersey's 1927 biannual elections proposal
Tue, 2023-Feb-21 00:51 UTC
Length - 3:55
Direct Link
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The featured article for Tuesday, 21 February 2023 is New Jersey's 1927 biannual elections proposal.
An unsuccessful attempt was made to pass an amendment to the Constitution of New Jersey in 1926 and 1927. The intent of the amendment was to have members of the New Jersey General Assembly serve two-year terms instead of one and also lengthen the terms of state senators and the governor from three years to four. The proposed amendment was passed twice by the legislature, and the text was approved by the Attorney General. Before the proposal could be put before the voters for final approval, it was noticed that though the legislature had intended that Assembly members be elected biennially (once in two years), the proposed amendment provided that they were to be chosen "biannually", meaning they were to be elected twice a year. After this discovery, the legislature passed a resolution defining biannually to mean biennially and proceeded with the referendum. On September 20, 1927, the people of New Jersey voted down the proposal, and Assembly members were elected annually until New Jersey instituted a new constitution in 1947.
New Jersey was governed then under a constitution adopted in 1844, and votes to amend it were allowed only once in five years. Among the amendments proposed initially by the 1926 legislature, and passed again in 1927, was one known as the "term extender", which would lengthen the terms of legislators and the governor. It would also require the gubernatorial election to be in the same year as the presidential election. New Jersey, despite being strongly Republican, had elected several Democratic governors recently, and Democrats believed such a change would give the Republicans an advantage. However, the fact that Republicans had a majority in the legislature meant Democrats could not block passage there. The original version, passed by the Assembly in 1926, did not mention "biannually", but the version passed by the Senate and then accepted by the Assembly did use the word. After it passed the 1927 legislature, a vote was set for September 27, 1927.
When Jews protested that September 27 was Rosh Hashanah that year, Governor A. Harry Moore convened the legislature into special session to set a new date. A Democratic clerk then pointed out the meaning of biannually, and others of that party urged that the amendment be scuttled. Instead, the Republican majority, relying on authorities who stated that biannually and biennially meant the same thing, chose to pass a resolution stating that the intent was to have elections every other year and set the referendum date for September 20, 1927. There was considerable amusement at the situation, both in New Jersey and nationwide. Frank Hague, the Jersey City Mayor and Democratic political boss of Hudson County, campaigned against the provision moving the election for governor to the presidential year, alleging it was political manipulation and the mixture of state and federal politics. Republicans stated that having the larger number of voters who cast ballots for president also help choose the governor was a good thing. The Democrats were so against the proposal that they successfully opposed three of the other four amendments that were on the ballot at the same time, lest the term extender amendment pass through confusion. The term extender failed, with just over 41 percent in favor, defeated by a huge turnout in Hague's Hudson County bailiwick, overwhelmingly against the proposal, contrasted with light turnout and lukewarm support through the rest of the state.
This recording reflects the Wikipedia text as of 00:51 UTC on Tuesday, 21 February 2023.
For the full current version of the article, see New Jersey's 1927 biannual elections proposal on Wikipedia.
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This has been Matthew Neural. Thank you for listening to featured Wiki of the Day.
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