Editing Dover, New Jersey (section)

==Government==

===Local government===
Dover operates using the [[Town (New Jersey)|Town]] form of government, one of nine 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 governing body is comprised of the Mayor and the Town Council who are chosen on a partisan basis as part of the November general election. The Mayor is elected [[at-large]] to a four-year term of office. The Towns Council is comprised of eight members, with two council members elected to two-year terms from each of the four [[Ward (United States)|wards]] on a staggered basis, with one seat coming up for election each year in each ward.<ref name=DataBook>''2012 New Jersey Legislative District Data Book'', [[Rutgers University]] [[Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy]], March 2013, p. 58.</ref><ref>[https://njdatabook.rutgers.edu/sites/njdatabook.rutgers.edu/files/documents/forms_of_municipal_government_in_new_jersey_9220.pdf#page=5 "Forms of Municipal Government in New Jersey"], p. 5. [[Rutgers University]] Center for Government Studies. Accessed June 1, 2023.</ref> The governing body had been known as the Board of Aldermen until October 2023, when the name was changed to the Town Council, making it the last municipality in the state to have used the term Aldermen.<ref>Westhoven, William. [https://www.dailyrecord.com/story/news/local/morris-county/2023/10/25/last-nj-aldermen-dover-gender-neutral-council/71306368007/ "NJ's last aldermen are gone as Morris County town switches to gender-neutral 'council'"], ''[[Daily Record (New Jersey)|Daily Record]]'', October 25, 2023. Accessed November 5, 2023. "Dover no longer has a board of aldermen running things. Neither does New Jersey. The governing body of the Morris County municipality voted by a 5-4 margin on Tuesday to declare itself a 'town council,' effectively relegating the alderman title to Garden State history. Dover was the last holdout in the state after another Morris town, Boonton, made the same change in 2021."</ref>

{{As of|2025}}, the [[Mayor]] of Dover is [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democrat]] James P. Dodd, whose term of office ends on December 31, 2027.<ref name=Mayor>[https://www.dover.nj.us/cn/Mayor/?tpid=2309 Mayor's Page], Town of Dover. Accessed May 5, 2024.</ref> Dodd had previously served as Mayor from 2006-2019 and defeated incumbent Mayor Carolyn Blackman in the 2023 Democratic primary en route to returning to office.<ref>Cahill, Frank. [https://morrisfocus.com/2023/11/09/dodd-secures-decisive-victory-in-dover-mayoral-race-clinching-70-of-votes/ "Dodd Secures Decisive Victory in Dover Mayoral Race, Clinching 70% of Votes"], Morris County Focus, November 9, 2023. Accessed February 4, 2024. "Ex-Mayor James Dodd achieved a resounding victory in Tuesday’s election, securing 70% of the vote in a bid to retake the position he previously occupied for four consecutive terms.... In the June Primary, Dodd competed against the incumbent Mayor Carolyn Blackman and Edward Correa. Dodd emerged with a majority of 50.6% of the votes, totaling 844. Blackman secured 24% of the votes, which amounted to 405, while Correa obtained 25%, equal to 418 votes."</ref> Members of the Town Council are Geovani Estacio-Carillo (Ward 2; D, 2026), Sergio Rodriguez (Ward 2; D, 2025), Arturo "A.B." Santana (Ward 4; D, 2025), Michael J. Scarneo (Ward 3; D, 2025), Marcos Tapia-Aguilar, Sr. (Ward 4; D, 2026), Claudia P. Toro (Ward 1; D, 2025), Veronica Velez (Ward 3; D, 2026) and Sandra Wittner (Ward 1; D, 2026).<ref>[https://www.dover.nj.us/cn/TownCouncil/?tpid=2310 Town Council], Town of Dover. Accessed May 5, 2024.</ref>

Dover serves as the lead agency operating a joint municipal court that also serves the neighboring municipalities of [[Mine Hill Township, New Jersey|Mine Hill Township]], [[Mount Arlington, New Jersey|Mount Arlington]], [[Victory Gardens, New Jersey|Victory Gardens]] and [[Wharton, New Jersey|Wharton]].<ref>[http://www.dover.nj.us/uppages/2015%20Reorg.%20Minutes-APPROVED.pdf Mayor and Board of Aldermen, Town of Dover Minutes of the Reorganization Meeting for January 1, 2015], Town of Dover. Accessed July 29, 2015.</ref> Established in 2009, the joint municipal court was projected to offer annual savings in excess of $250,000 over the 10-year life of the agreement.<ref>Forrest, Cindy. [http://www.northjersey.com/news/council-judges-proposal-for-joint-municipal-court-1.367035?page=all "Victory Gardens Council judges proposal for joint municipal court"], ''[[The Record (North Jersey)|The Record]]'', May 18, 2012. Accessed July 29, 2015. "With Dover as the lead agency, four other area towns - Rockaway Borough, Wharton, Mine Hill, and Mt. Arlington - entered into a landmark municipal court shared-services agreement in 2009 anticipating an estimated $2.65 million savings over the 10-year life of the contract."</ref>

===Federal, state, and county representation===
Dover is located in the 11th Congressional District<ref name=PCR2022>[https://www.njredistrictingcommission.org/documents/2021/Data2021/Plan%20Components.pdf 2022 Redistricting Plan], [[New Jersey Redistricting Commission]], December 8, 2022.</ref> and is part of New Jersey's 25th 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#25 Districts by Number for 2011-2020], [[New Jersey Legislature]]. Accessed January 6, 2013.</ref>

Prior to the 2010 Census, Dover had been part of the {{ushr|NJ|11|11th Congressional District}}, a change made by the [[New Jersey Redistricting Commission]] that took effect in January 2013, based on the results of the November 2012 general elections.<ref name=LWV2011>[http://www.lwvnj.org/images/cg_2011.pdf#page=56 ''2011 New Jersey Citizen's Guide to Government''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130604153059/http://www.lwvnj.org/images/cg_2011.pdf#page=56 |date=June 4, 2013 }}, p. 56, New Jersey [[League of Women Voters]]. Accessed May 22, 2015.</ref>

{{NJ Congress 11}} {{NJ Senate}}

{{NJ Legislative 25}}

{{NJ Morris County Commissioners}}

===Politics===
{{PresHead|place=Dover|source=<br>2024<ref>[https://www.nj.gov/state/elections/assets/pdf/election-results/2024/2024-official-general-results-president-morris.pdf Presidential November 5, 2024 General Election Results Morris County], [[New Jersey Department of State]]. Accessed January 1, 2025.</ref> 2020<ref>[https://www.nj.gov/state/elections/assets/pdf/election-results/2020/2020-official-general-results-president-morris.pdf Presidential November 3, 2020 General Election Results Morris County], [[New Jersey Department of State]], updated December 18, 2020. Accessed January 1, 2025.</ref> 2016<ref>[https://www.nj.gov/state/elections/assets/pdf/election-results/2016/2016-gen-elect-presidential-results-morris.pdf Presidential November 8, 2016 General Election Results Morris County], [[New Jersey Department of State]], updated December 14, 2016. Accessed January 1, 2015.</ref> 2012<ref>[https://www.nj.gov/state/elections/assets/pdf/election-results/2012/2012-presidential-morris.pdf Presidential November 6, 2012 General Election Results Morris County], [[New Jersey Department of State]], updated March 15, 2013. Accessed January 1, 2025.</ref> 2008<ref>[https://www.nj.gov/state/elections/assets/pdf/election-results/2008/2008-gen-elect-presidential-results-morris.pdf Presidential General Election Results Morris County for 2008], [[New Jersey Department of State]], updated December 23, 2008. Accessed January 1, 2025.</ref> 2004<ref>[https://www.nj.gov/state/elections/assets/pdf/election-results/2004/2004-presidential_morris_co_2004.pdf 2004 Presidential Election Morris County Official Results], [[New Jersey Department of State]], updated December 13, 2004. Accessed January 1, 2025.</ref>}}
<!-- PresRow should be {{PresRow|Year|Winning party|GOP vote #|Dem vote #|3rd party vote #|State}} -->
{{PresRow|2024|Democratic|2,188|2,891|115|New Jersey}}
{{PresRow|2020|Democratic|1,809|3,786|57|New Jersey}}
{{PresRow|2016|Democratic|1,294|3,539|156|New Jersey}}
{{PresRow|2012|Democratic|1,195|3,223|35|New Jersey}}
{{PresRow|2008|Democratic|1,500|3,172|31|New Jersey}}
{{PresRow|2004|Democratic|1,914|2,658|34|New Jersey}}
|}

As of March 2011, there were a total of 6,613 registered voters in Dover. Of those, 2,603 (39.4%) were registered as [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democrats]], 1,125 (17.0%) were registered as [[Republican Party (United States)|Republicans]], 2,881 (43.6%) were registered as [[Unaffiliated (New Jersey)|Unaffiliated]], and 4 were registered as [[Libertarian Party (United States)|Libertarians]] or [[Green Party (United States)|Greens]].<ref>{{citation | url = http://www.state.nj.us/state/elections/election-results/2011-morris-co-summary-report.pdf | title = Voter Registration Summary - Morris | publisher = [[New Jersey Department of State]] Division of Elections | date = March 23, 2011 | access-date = December 18, 2012}}</ref>

In the [[United States presidential election in New Jersey, 2012|2012 presidential election]], Democrat [[Barack Obama]] received 72.4% of the vote (3,223 cast), ahead of Republican [[Mitt Romney]] with 26.8% (1,195 votes), and other candidates with 0.8% (35 votes), among the 4,494 ballots cast by the town's 7,196 registered voters (41 ballots were [[Spoilt vote|spoiled]]), for a turnout of 62.5%.<ref name=2012Elections>{{citation |url=http://www.state.nj.us/state/elections/2012-results/2012-presidential-morris.pdf |title=Presidential General Election Results - November 6, 2012 - Morris County |date=March 15, 2013 |publisher=New Jersey Department of Elections |access-date=December 24, 2014}}</ref><ref name=2012VoterReg>{{citation |url=http://www.state.nj.us/state/elections/2012-results/2012-ballotscast-morris.pdf |title=Number of Registered Voters and Ballots Cast - November 6, 2012 - General Election Results - Morris 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]], Democrat [[Barack Obama]] received 67.1% of the vote (3,172 cast), ahead of Republican [[John McCain]] with 31.7% (1,500 votes) and other candidates with 0.7% (31 votes), among the 4,727 ballots cast by the town's 7,019 registered voters, for a turnout of 67.3%.<ref>{{citation | url = http://www.state.nj.us/state/elections/election-results/2008-gen-elect-presidential-results-morris.pdf | title = 2008 Presidential General Election Results: Morris County | publisher = [[New Jersey Department of State]] Division of Elections | date = December 23, 2008 | access-date = December 18, 2012}}</ref> In the [[United States presidential election in New Jersey, 2004|2004 presidential election]], Democrat [[John Kerry]] received 57.2% of the vote (2,658 ballots cast), outpolling Republican [[George W. Bush]] with 41.2% (1,914 votes) and other candidates with 0.5% (34 votes), among the 4,643 ballots cast by the town's 7,356 registered voters, for a turnout percentage of 63.1.<ref>{{citation | url = http://www.state.nj.us/state/elections/election-results/2004-presidential_morris_co_2004.pdf | title = 2004 Presidential Election: Morris County | publisher = [[New Jersey Department of State]] Division of Elections | date = December 13, 2004 | access-date = December 18, 2012}}</ref>

In the [[New Jersey gubernatorial election, 2013|2013 gubernatorial election]], Republican [[Chris Christie]] received 54.0% of the vote (1,055 cast), ahead of Democrat [[Barbara Buono]] with 43.6% (853 votes), and other candidates with 2.4% (47 votes), among the 1,994 ballots cast by the town's 7,078 registered voters (39 ballots were spoiled), for a turnout of 28.2%.<ref name=2013Elections>{{citation |url=http://www.state.nj.us/state/elections/2013-results/2013-general-election-results-governor-morris.pdf |title=Governor - Morris County |date=January 29, 2014 |publisher=New Jersey Department of Elections |access-date=December 24, 2014}}</ref><ref name=2013VoterReg>{{citation |url=http://www.state.nj.us/state/elections/2013-results/2013-general-election-ballotscast-morris.pdf |title=Number of Registered Voters and Ballots Cast - November 5, 2013 - General Election Results - Morris 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]], Democrat [[Jon Corzine]] received 55.6% of the vote (1,408 ballots cast), ahead of Republican [[Chris Christie]] with 36.3% (919 votes), Independent [[Chris Daggett]] with 5.6% (142 votes) and other candidates with 0.8% (21 votes), among the 2,532 ballots cast by the town's 6,750 registered voters, yielding a 37.5% turnout.<ref>{{citation | url = http://www.njelections.org/election-results/2009-governor_results-morris.pdf | title = 2009 Governor: Morris County | publisher = [[New Jersey Department of State]] Division of Elections | date = December 31, 2009 | access-date = December 18, 2012 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20121017231210/http://www.njelections.org/election-results/2009-governor_results-morris.pdf | archive-date = October 17, 2012 | url-status = dead }}</ref>