Editing Lower Township, New Jersey (section)

==Government==
[[File:Township of Lower Muncipal Building NJ.JPG|thumb|Lower Township's municipal building in [[Villas, New Jersey|Villas]]]]

===Local government===
Lower Township operates within the [[Faulkner Act]], formally known as the Optional Municipal Charter Law, under the [[Faulkner Act (council–manager)|Council-Manager]] form of government, which was adopted in 1984. The township is one of 42 municipalities (of the 564) statewide that use this form of government.<ref>[https://njdatabook.rutgers.edu/sites/njdatabook.rutgers.edu/files/documents/inventory_of_municipal_forms_of_government_in_new_jersey.pdf ''Inventory of Municipal Forms of Government in New Jersey''], [[Rutgers University]] Center for Government Studies, July 1, 2011. Accessed June 1, 2023.</ref> The council is comprised of five members—the Mayor, the Council Member-at-Large and three [[Ward (United States)|Ward]] seats—each elected on a partisan basis to four-year terms on a staggered basis, with either two seats (mayor and council at-large) or the three ward seats up for election in even-numbered years on an alternating basis as part of the November general election.<ref name=DataBook>''2012 New Jersey Legislative District Data Book'', [[Rutgers University]] [[Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy]], March 2013, p. 8.</ref><ref>[https://njdatabook.rutgers.edu/sites/njdatabook.rutgers.edu/files/documents/forms_of_municipal_government_in_new_jersey_9220.pdf#page=12 "Forms of Municipal Government in New Jersey"], p. 12. [[Rutgers University]] Center for Government Studies. Accessed June 1, 2023.</ref><ref name=MayorCouncil/> The Mayor presides at all Council meetings and has a voice and vote in the proceedings. Powers are limited to those expressly conferred by the Charter. The Manager serves the council for an indefinite term of office and may be removed by a majority vote of the council. The Manager is the chief executive and administrator of the Township.

{{As of|2023}}, members of the Lower Township Council are [[Mayor]] Frank Sippel ([[Republican Party (New Jersey)|R]], term ends December 31, 2024; At Large), [[Deputy Mayor]] David Perry (R, 2024; At Large), Thomas Conrad (R, 2026; Ward I), Kevin Coombs (R, 2026; Ward II) and Roland A. Roy Jr. (R, 2026; Ward III).<ref name=MayorCouncil>[https://townshipoflower.org/mayor.php Mayor and Council], Lower Township. Accessed August 23, 2023. "Lower Township adopted the Council-Manager form of government in 1984. The council is comprised of five council members (Mayor, Council Member-at-Large, and 3 Wards), each elected on partisan basis, serving the Township for a four-year term. Because the terms overlap, elections to council are held every two years."</ref><ref>[https://townshipoflower.org/uploaded_files/Lower%20Twp%202023%20Budget-Introduced.pdf#page=2 2023 Municipal User Friendly Budget], Lower Township. Accessed August 23, 2023.</ref><ref name=CapeMayOfficials>[https://www.capemaycountyvotes.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/2023-All-Elected-Officials-INTERNET-July.pdf 2023 County & Municipal Elected Officials Cape May County, NJ -- July 2023], [[Cape May County, New Jersey]], August 3, 2023. Accessed August 23, 2023.</ref><ref name=CapeMay2022>[https://www.capemaycountyvotes.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/1.-2022-GENERAL-SUMMARY-REPORT-OFFICIAL.pdf Summary Results Report 2022 November Cape May General Election November 8, 2022 Official Results], [[Cape May County, New Jersey]], updated November 17, 2022. Accessed January 1, 2023.</ref><ref name=CapeMay2020>[https://www.capemaycountyvotes.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/2020-Successful-General-Candidates.pdf 2020 General Election Successful Candidates], [[Cape May County, New Jersey]], updated December 4, 2020. Accessed January 1, 2021.</ref>

Erik Simonsen won a special election in November 2013 to fill the seat of Glenn Douglass, who had resigned two months earlier and whose seat had been filled on an interim basis by Jackie Henderson.<ref>Campbell, Braden. [https://pressofatlanticcity.com/politics/middle-township-democrat-michael-clark-wins-seat-unofficially/article_dc37d19c-468e-11e3-969c-0019bb2963f4.html "Middle Township Democrat Michael Clark wins seat, unofficially"], ''[[The Press of Atlantic City]]'', November 5, 2013. Accessed December 18, 2014. "In Lower Township, Republican Erik Simonsen won the open Ward 3 Council seat with 1,290 votes.... Simonsen will serve out the remainder of Douglass' one-year unexpired term. Douglass resigned from his seat in September after he found out he must in order to collect his state pension after retiring from the New Jersey Department of Corrections. His seat has been held by North Cape May resident Jackie Henderson since his resignation.... He joins Mayor Michael Beck, Norris Clark, Thomas Conrad and James Neville. All are Republicans save Beck, who is an independent."</ref>

In January 2017, Roland Roy was selected from three candidates nominated by the Republican municipal committee to fill the Third Ward seat vacated by Erik Simonsen when he took office as mayor; Roy served on an interim basis until the November 2017 general election, when he was elected to serve the balance of the term through December 2018.<ref>South, Christopher. [http://www.shorenewstoday.com/cape_may/lower-township-council-votes-in-roland-roy-jr-as-ward/article_39e4f264-9121-5710-b7ef-c3b942582917.html "Lower Township Council votes in Roland Roy Jr. as Ward 3 councilman"], ''The Gazette of Cape May'', January 25, 2017. Accessed January 11, 2018. "Lower Township Council appointed Roland Roy, Jr. to fill the vacant Ward 3 council seat at its Jan. 18 meeting. Roy will replace Mayor Erik Simonsen, who was elected mayor in November and took office at the reorganization meeting earlier this month. Roy was appointed by a unanimous vote of Township Council."</ref><ref name=CapeMay2017>[http://results.enr.clarityelections.com/NJ/Cape_May/71890/191220/Web01/en/summary.html 2017 General Election Official Results], [[Cape May County, New Jersey]], updated November 9, 2017. Accessed January 1, 2018.</ref>

In February 2020, the Township Council selected Keven Coombs to fill the Ward II seat expiring in December 2022 that became vacant when David Perry was chosen to serve as deputy mayor.<ref>Price, Carl. [https://www.capemaycountyherald.com/news/government/article_0c6e15b2-581a-11ea-b1fb-4bc3eea255ae.html "Coombs Sworn to Lower Township Council"], ''[[Cape May County Herald]]'', February 25, 2020. Accessed February 26, 2020. "Kevin Coombs, second from right, was sworn to Lower Township Council at the Feb. 19 meeting. The Lower Township Regular Republican Organization submitted three candidates to fill the seat of Second Ward Councilman David Perry until the election in November. Perry became deputy mayor after Mayor Frank Sippel became mayor when former Mayor Erik Simonsen was elected to state Assembly."</ref> Earlier that month, Perry had been shifted to deputy mayor after Frank Sippel was selected as mayor to replace [[Erik K. Simonsen]], who resigned to take office in the [[New Jersey General Assembly]].<ref>Price, Carl. [https://www.capemaycountyherald.com/news/government/article_ff2a8f2c-49d0-11ea-9c01-5bdb6f3e6752.html "Perry Takes Oath as Lower's Deputy Mayor"], ''[[Cape May County Herald]]'', February 8, 2020. Accessed February 26, 2020. "Since Mayor Erik Simonsen vacated his position, after winning a seat on the State Assembly, there has been a shift on Lower Township Council. Deputy Mayor Frank Sippel became mayor, and Councilman David Perry became deputy mayor."</ref>

===Federal, state, and county representation===
Lower Township is located in the 2nd Congressional District<ref name=PCR2012>[https://www.nj.gov/state/elections/assets/pdf/2012-congressional-districts/njcd-2011-plan-components-county-mcd.pdf Plan Components Report], [[New Jersey Redistricting Commission]], December 23, 2011. Accessed February 1, 2020.</ref> and is part of New Jersey's 1st state legislative district.<ref name=Districts2011>[https://www.nj.gov/state/elections/assets/pdf/2011-legislative-districts/towns-districts.pdf Municipalities Sorted by 2011-2020 Legislative District], [[New Jersey Department of State]]. Accessed February 1, 2020.</ref><ref name=LWV2019>[https://uploads-ssl.webflow.com/5bae63366fd2b2e5b9f87e5e/5d30f0a94a82c66427e564d2_2019_CitizensGuide.pdf ''2019 New Jersey Citizen's Guide to Government''], New Jersey [[League of Women Voters]]. Accessed October 30, 2019.</ref><ref>[https://www.njleg.state.nj.us/districts/districtnumbers.asp#1 Districts by Number for 2011-2020], [[New Jersey Legislature]]. Accessed January 6, 2013.</ref>

{{NJ Congress 02}} {{NJ Senate}}

{{NJ Legislative 01}}

{{NJ Cape May County Freeholders}}

===Politics===
As of March 2011, there were a total of 14,612 registered voters in Lower Township, of which 3,000 (20.5%) were registered as [[Democratic Party (New Jersey)|Democrats]], 5,902 (40.4%) were registered as [[Republican Party (New Jersey)|Republicans]] and 5,702 (39.0%) were registered as [[Unaffiliated (New Jersey)|Unaffiliated]]. There were 8 voters registered as [[Libertarian Party (United States)|Libertarians]] or [[Green Party (United States)|Greens]].<ref>[http://www.state.nj.us/state/elections/election-results/2011-capemay-co-summary-report.pdf Voter Registration Summary - Cape May], [[New Jersey Department of State]] Division of Elections, March 23, 2011. Accessed October 17, 2012.</ref>

In the [[United States presidential election in New Jersey, 2012|2012 presidential election]], Republican [[Mitt Romney]] received 52.6% of the vote (5,493 cast), ahead of Democrat [[Barack Obama]] with 46.2% (4,823 votes), and other candidates with 1.1% (120 votes), among the 10,534 ballots cast by the township's 15,217 registered voters (98 ballots were [[spoilt vote|spoiled]]), for a turnout of 69.2%.<ref name=2012Elections>{{cite web |url=http://www.state.nj.us/state/elections/2012-results/2012-presidential-cape-may.pdf |title=Presidential General Election Results - November 6, 2012 - Cape May County |date=March 15, 2013 |publisher=New Jersey Department of Elections |access-date=December 24, 2014}}</ref><ref name=2012VoterReg>{{cite web |url=http://www.state.nj.us/state/elections/2012-results/2012-ballotscast-capemay.pdf |title=Number of Registered Voters and Ballots Cast - November 6, 2012 - General Election Results - Cape May County |date=March 15, 2013 |publisher=New Jersey Department of Elections |access-date=December 24, 2014}}</ref> In the [[United States presidential election in New Jersey, 2008|2008 presidential election]], Republican [[John McCain]] received 52.2% of the vote (5,831 cast), ahead of Democrat [[Barack Obama]], who received 45.1% (5,040 votes), with 11,177 ballots cast among the township's 14,435 registered voters, for a turnout of 77.4%.<ref>[http://www.state.nj.us/state/elections/election-results/2008-gen-elect-presidential-results-cape-may.pdf 2008 Presidential General Election Results: Cape May County], [[New Jersey Department of State]] Division of Elections, December 23, 2008. Accessed October 17, 2012.</ref> In the [[United States presidential election in New Jersey, 2004|2004 presidential election]], Republican [[George W. Bush]] received 54.3% of the vote (5,951 ballots cast), outpolling Democrat [[John Kerry]], who received around 44.1% (4,830 votes), with 10,961 ballots cast among the township's 14,709 registered voters, for a turnout percentage of 74.5.<ref>[http://www.state.nj.us/state/elections/election-results/2004-presidential_capemay_co_2004.pdf 2004 Presidential Election: Cape May County], [[New Jersey Department of State]] Division of Elections, December 13, 2004. Accessed October 17, 2012.</ref>

{| class="wikitable" style="float:right; font-size:95%;"
|+ Presidential elections results
|- bgcolor=lightgrey
! Year
![[Republican Party (United States)|Republican]]
![[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic]]
|-
| style="text-align:center;" {{Party shading/Republican}}|'''[[2024 United States presidential election in New Jersey|2024]]<ref name="2024Elections">{{cite web |url=https://www.nj.gov/state/elections/assets/pdf/election-results/2024/2024-official-general-results-president-capemay.pdf|title=Presidential November 5, 2024 General Election Results Cape May County|access-date=January 13, 2025}}</ref>'''
| style="text-align:center;" {{Party shading/Republican}}|'''59.8%''' ''7,373''
| style="text-align:center;" {{Party shading/Democratic}}|38.6% ''4,752''
|-
| style="text-align:center;" {{Party shading/Republican}}|'''[[United States presidential election in New Jersey, 2020|2020]]<ref name="2020Elections">{{cite web |url=https://www.nj.gov/state/elections/assets/pdf/election-results/2020/2020-official-general-results-president-capemay.pdf|title=Presidential November 3, 2020 General Election Results Cape May County|access-date=January 13, 2025}}</ref>'''
| style="text-align:center;" {{Party shading/Republican}}|'''59.1%''' ''7,749''
| style="text-align:center;" {{Party shading/Democratic}}|39.3% ''5,160''
|-
| style="text-align:center;" {{Party shading/Republican}}|'''[[United States presidential election in New Jersey, 2016|2016]]<ref name="2016Elections">{{cite web |url=https://www.nj.gov/state/elections/assets/pdf/election-results/2016/2016-gen-elect-presidential-results-cape-may.pdf|title=Presidential General Election Results – November 8, 2016 – Cape May County|publisher=New Jersey Department of Elections|access-date=December 31, 2017}}</ref>'''
| style="text-align:center;" {{Party shading/Republican}}|'''59.6%''' ''5,307''
| style="text-align:center;" {{Party shading/Democratic}}|36.3% ''3,840''
|-
| style="text-align:center;" {{Party shading/Republican}}|'''[[United States presidential election in New Jersey, 2012|2012]]<ref name="2012Election">{{cite web |url=http://www.state.nj.us/state/elections/2012-results/2012-presidential-cape-may.pdf |title=Presidential General Election Results - November 6, 2012 - Cape May County|publisher=New Jersey Department of Elections |access-date=January 13, 2025}}</ref>'''
| style="text-align:center;" {{Party shading/Republican}}|'''52.6%''' ''5,493''
| style="text-align:center;" {{Party shading/Democratic}}|46.2% ''4,823''
|-
| style="text-align:center;" {{Party shading/Republican}}|'''[[United States presidential election in New Jersey, 2008|2008]]<ref name="state.nj.us">[http://www.state.nj.us/state/elections/election-results/2008-gen-elect-presidential-results-cape-may.pdf 2008 Presidential General Election Results: Cape May County], [[New Jersey Department of State]] Division of Elections, December 23, 2008. Accessed January 13, 2025.</ref>'''
| style="text-align:center;" {{Party shading/Republican}}|'''52.2%''' ''5,831''
| style="text-align:center;" {{Party shading/Democratic}}|45.1% ''5,040''
|-
| style="text-align:center;" {{Party shading/Republican}}|'''[[United States presidential election in New Jersey, 2004|2004]]'''<ref name="Presidential Election 2004">[http://www.state.nj.us/state/elections/election-results/2004-presidential_capemay_co_2004.pdf 2004 Presidential Election: Cape May County], [[New Jersey Department of State]] Division of Elections, December 13, 2004. Accessed January 13, 2025.</ref>
| style="text-align:center;" {{Party shading/Republican}}|'''54.3%''' ''5,951''
| style="text-align:center;" {{Party shading/Democratic}}|44.1% ''4,830''
|}

In the [[New Jersey gubernatorial election, 2013|2013 gubernatorial election]], Republican [[Chris Christie]] received 70.8% of the vote (4,909 cast), ahead of Democrat [[Barbara Buono]] with 27.6% (1,913 votes), and other candidates with 1.7% (115 votes), among the 7,142 ballots cast by the township's 14,910 registered voters (205 ballots were spoiled), for a turnout of 47.9%.<ref name=2013Elections>{{cite web |url=http://www.state.nj.us/state/elections/2013-results/2013-general-election-results-governor-cape-may.pdf |title=Governor - Cape May County |date=January 29, 2014 |publisher=New Jersey Department of Elections |access-date=December 24, 2014}}</ref><ref name=2013VoterReg>{{cite web |url=http://www.state.nj.us/state/elections/2013-results/2013-general-election-ballotscast-capemay.pdf |title=Number of Registered Voters and Ballots Cast - November 5, 2013 - General Election Results - Cape May County |date=January 29, 2014 |publisher=New Jersey Department of Elections |access-date=December 24, 2014}}</ref> In the [[New Jersey gubernatorial election, 2009|2009 gubernatorial election]], Republican Chris Christie received 51.6% of the vote (3,712 ballots cast), ahead of both Democrat [[Jon Corzine]] with 40.1% (2,882 votes) and Independent [[Chris Daggett]] with 6.0% (433 votes), with 7,190 ballots cast among the township's 14,989 registered voters, yielding a 48.0% turnout.<ref>[http://www.njelections.org/election-results/2009-governor_results-cape-may.pdf 2009 Governor: Cape May County] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121017225450/http://www.njelections.org/election-results/2009-governor_results-cape-may.pdf |date=2012-10-17}}, [[New Jersey Department of State]] Division of Elections, December 31, 2009. Accessed October 17, 2012.</ref>