ORANGE, NJ — East Ward Councilman Kerry Coley was re-elected chairman of the Orange Democratic Committee at the group’s reorganization meeting Monday, June 13, at the Sandwiches Unlimited restaurant on Center Street.
Outgoing City Council President April Gaunt-Butler was elected vice chairman. According to Orange Democratic Committee rules regarding gender equity, if the chairman is male then the vice chairman must be female; since outgoing Chairwoman Shelly Alexander stepped down, the No. 2 spot in the organization had to go to another woman.
Gaunt-Butler won the position, despite losing her re-election bid in the municipal election May 10, and said she’s looking forward to her new role in the city’s political life.
“I still want to serve; to do something to help my community,” said Gaunt-Butler on Monday, June 13. “I’m excited to be serving in this new capacity.”
Coley said he’s excited to be back at the Orange Democratic Committee helm again, too. He served as chairman in 2012, while working as a police officer in the Orange Police Department.
“It feels great to be thought about in that light by your peers as someone to help lead them down the road,” said Coly on Tuesday, June 14. “We have a presidential election coming up real soon in November. I just want the people of Orange and Essex County to know that the city of Orange is very serious about choosing our next president. After that, down the road, we will be choosing who is going to be the next governor of New Jersey and Orange is going to be playing a significant role in that.”
Coley said he’s also happy to continue working with Gaunt-Butler, adding that it is all hands on deck, when it comes to moving Orange forward into a better and brighter future.
“I welcome her skill set of leadership and experience to help moving us down the road,” Coley said. “I guess her desire to remain involved in local Orange politics and public life is a good thing. I’m just looking forward to again working as the chairman of the Orange Democratic Committee and moving the committee in the right direction.”
And that means improving voter turnout in Orange. According to the Essex County Clerk’s Office, just 3,917 total votes were cast in the municipal election on Tuesday, May 10. According to the Orange City Clerk’s Office, there are 15,829 registered voters in a city with a population of 32,868.
“Voter turnout and voter participation nationwide is just low,” said Coley. “It is what it is. We have to go to where the voters are. I feel that state legislators can do more by creating an online voting program where any and everybody can vote online if you want. You should be able to vote wherever you are. We can pay your bills online; we do everything online. There’s no reason why we can’t create a unique username and password for voting. I’m sure that would increase the voting numbers that we see now.”
He added, “if we do not move down that road, we are going to disenfranchise a lot of people. Everybody in the modern world has a debit card or credit card and they have made purchases online. That means your personal information is already out there. We have to go to where people are. That’s the only way that we’re going to reach people. We’re moving into the future and we’ve got to change with the times. Having one person come out and vote at the polls on Election Day worked for the last couple hundred years, but times have changed and we have to keep up with them.”
However, Coley said there is still a lot to be said for doing things the old-fashioned way, as the Orange Democratic Committee did Monday, June 13.
“It was at Sandwiches Unlimited at 7 p.m.,” said Coley. “It’s a local business in Orange and, if you cannot support your local business as a local organization, what good are you? That’s the spirit — from Orange, by Orange, for Orange. That’s it.”
About the Author
