Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Civic advocate urges county outreach as fire district elections draw near; turnout ‘routinely under 2%’
Summary
Steve Soloff told Cumberland County commissioners that turnout in local fire district elections is frequently below 2%, pushing for a public information campaign, radio interviews and collaboration to boost candidate recruitment and voter awareness ahead of Feb. 21 elections.
Steve Soloff, who runs the local civic information project InformTheVoteNJ, told the Cumberland County Board of Commissioners that turnout in many fire district elections is extremely low and poses governance and public-safety risks.
"Voter turnout in fire district elections is routinely under 2%," Soloff said, noting that in some districts just 20 to 30 votes decide boards that oversee millions of dollars in assets and emergency services. He said the compressed timetable for February elections, with candidate petitions due in late…
Already have an account? Log in
Subscribe to keep reading
Unlock the rest of this article — and every article on Citizen Portal.
- Unlimited articles
- AI-powered breakdowns of topics, speakers, decisions, and budgets
- Instant alerts when your location has a new meeting
- Follow topics and more locations
- 1,000 AI Insights / month, plus AI Chat
