Local government Carneys Point Township is governed under the
Township form of New Jersey municipal government, one of 141 municipalities (of the 564) statewide that use this form, the second-most commonly used form of government in the state. The Township Committee is comprised of five members, who are elected directly by the voters
at-large in partisan elections to serve three-year terms of office on a staggered basis, with either one or two seats coming up for election each year as part of the November general election in a three-year cycle. At an annual reorganization meeting, the Township Committee selects one of its members to serve as Mayor and another as Deputy Mayor. , members of the Carneys Point Township Committee are
Mayor Kenneth H. Brown (
D, term on committee ends December 31, 2023; term as mayor ends 2022), Deputy Mayor Patrick D. Bomba (D, term on committee ends 2024; term as deputy mayor ends 2022), Marcus E. Dowe Jr. (D, 2022), Kenneth R. Dennis (R, 2023; elected to serve an unexpired term) and Wayne D. Pelura (
R, 2022). After counting all ballots in the November 2014 general election, incumbent Democrat Charles C. Newton and his Republican challenger Joseph F. Racite were deadlocked at 1,001 votes for the second of two seats up for vote on the township committee, despite Newton's initial four-vote edge after the machine votes were counted. In a runoff election held on December 30, Racite prevailed and was elected to take the seat by a 660–585 margin.
Federal, state and county representation Carneys Point Township is located in the 2nd Congressional District and is part of New Jersey's 3rd state legislative district.
Politics As of March 2011, there were a total of 5,154 registered voters in Carneys Point Township, of which 1,587 (30.8% vs. 30.6% countywide) were registered as
Democrats, 927 (18.0% vs. 21.0%) were registered as
Republicans and 2,640 (51.2% vs. 48.4%) were registered as
Unaffiliated. There were no voters registered as either
Libertarians or
Greens. Among the township's 2010 Census population, 64.0% (vs. 64.6% in Salem County) were registered to vote, including 80.1% of those ages 18 and over (vs. 84.4% countywide). In the
2012 presidential election, Democrat
Barack Obama received 58.1% of the vote (1,974 cast), ahead of Republican
Mitt Romney with 40.6% (1,379 votes), and other candidates with 1.4% (46 votes), among the 3,429 ballots cast by the township's 5,397 registered voters (30 ballots were
spoiled), for a turnout of 63.5%. In the
2008 presidential election, Democrat Barack Obama received 2,138 votes (57.3% vs. 50.4% countywide), ahead of Republican
John McCain with 1,494 votes (40.0% vs. 46.6%) and other candidates with 61 votes (1.6% vs. 1.6%), among the 3,732 ballots cast by the township's 5,471 registered voters, for a turnout of 68.2% (vs. 71.8% in Salem County). In the
2004 presidential election, Democrat
John Kerry received 1,671 votes (52.6% vs. 45.9% countywide), ahead of Republican
George W. Bush with 1,455 votes (45.8% vs. 52.5%) and other candidates with 28 votes (0.9% vs. 1.0%), among the 3,177 ballots cast by the township's 4,886 registered voters, for a turnout of 65.0% (vs. 71.0% in the whole county). In the
2013 gubernatorial election, Republican
Chris Christie received 61.4% of the vote (1,352 cast), ahead of Democrat
Barbara Buono with 36.5% (804 votes), and other candidates with 2.0% (45 votes), among the 2,375 ballots cast by the township's 5,308 registered voters (174 ballots were spoiled), for a turnout of 44.7%. In the
2009 gubernatorial election, Democrat
Jon Corzine received 987 ballots cast (42.7% vs. 39.9% countywide), ahead of Republican Chris Christie with 926 votes (40.1% vs. 46.1%), Independent
Chris Daggett with 209 votes (9.0% vs. 9.7%) and other candidates with 47 votes (2.0% vs. 2.0%), among the 2,312 ballots cast by the township's 5,406 registered voters, yielding a 42.8% turnout (vs. 47.3% in the county). ==Education==