Editing Matawan, New Jersey (section)

==Government==

===Local government===
Matawan is governed under the [[Borough (New Jersey)|borough]] form of New Jersey municipal government, which is used in 218 municipalities (of the 564) statewide, making it the most common form of government in New Jersey.<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 borough council, with all positions elected [[at-large]] on a partisan basis as part of the November general election. A mayor is elected directly by the voters to a four-year term of office. The borough council includes six members elected to serve three-year terms on a staggered basis, with two seats coming up for election each year in a three-year cycle.<ref name=DataBook>''2012 New Jersey Legislative District Data Book'', [[Rutgers University]] [[Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy]], March 2013, p. 67.</ref><ref>[https://www.matawanborough.com/matawan/Government/Your%20Government%20Home/ Your Government], Borough of Matawan. Accessed January 29, 2025. "Matawan is governed under the Borough form of New Jersey municipal government. The governing body consists of a Mayor and a Borough Council comprising six council members, with all positions elected at-large on a partisan basis as part of the November general election. A Mayor is elected directly by the voters to a four-year term of office. The Borough Council consists of six members elected to serve three-year terms on a staggered basis, with two seats coming up for election each year in a three-year cycle."</ref> The borough form of government used by Matawan is a "[[weak mayor]] / strong council" government in which council members act as the legislative body with the mayor presiding at meetings and voting only in the event of a tie. The mayor can [[veto]] ordinances subject to an [[veto override|override]] by a two-thirds majority vote of the council. The mayor makes committee and liaison assignments for council members, and most appointments are made by the mayor with the advice and consent of the council.<ref>Cerra, Michael F. [https://www.njlm.org/809/3982/Forms-of-Govt-Magazine-Article "Forms of Government: Everything You've Always Wanted to Know, But Were Afraid to Ask"], [[New Jersey State League of Municipalities]], March 2007. Accessed January 1, 2025.</ref><ref>[https://njdatabook.rutgers.edu/sites/njdatabook.rutgers.edu/files/documents/forms_of_municipal_government_in_new_jersey_9220.pdf#page=6 "Forms of Municipal Government in New Jersey"], p. 6. [[Rutgers University]] Center for Government Studies. Accessed June 1, 2023.</ref><ref>[https://www.matawanborough.com/matawan/Your%20GOVERNMENT/Your%20Government%20Home/ Your Government], Borough of Matawan. Accessed August 22, 2024.</ref>

{{As of|2024}}, the [[mayor]] of Matawan is [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democrat]] Joseph Altomonte, whose term of office ends December 31, 2027. Members of the Matawan Borough Council are Council President Deana Gunn (D, 2026), Arlan Feiles (D, 2026), Brian Livesey (D, 2025), Suzanne Reynolds (R, 2027), Charles Ross ([[Republican Party (United States)|R]], 2027) and Steven Russell (D, 2025).<ref name=MayorCouncil>[https://www.matawanborough.com/matawan/Government/Mayor%20%26%20Council/ Mayor and Council], Borough of Matawan. Accessed January 29, 2025.</ref><ref>[https://www.matawanborough.com/matawan/Departments/Finance/2024%20Documents/2024%20Borough%20of%20Matawan%20Adopted%20Budget.pdf?1738209903 2024 Municipal Data Sheet], Borough of Matawan. Accessed January 29, 2025. As of date accessed, Altomonte is listed with an incorrect term-end year of 2026, as he was elected to a four-year term in 2023.</ref><ref name=Monmouth2024>[https://results.enr.clarityelections.com/NJ/Monmouth/122857/web.345435/#/summary November 5, 2024 General Election Official Results], [[Monmouth County, New Jersey]], updated December 16, 2024. Accessed January 1, 2025.</ref><ref name=Monmouth2023>[https://results.enr.clarityelections.com/NJ/Monmouth/119047/web.317647/#/summary November 8, 2023 General Election Official Results], [[Monmouth County, New Jersey]], updated January 18, 2024. Accessed January 22, 2024.</ref><ref name=Monmouth2022>[https://results.enr.clarityelections.com/NJ/Monmouth/116246/web.307039/#/summary General Election November 8, 2022 Official Results], [[Monmouth County, New Jersey]] Clerk, updated December 27, 2022. Accessed January 1, 2023.</ref>

In July 2019, Brian Livesey was appointed to fill the seat expiring in December 2021 that become vacant following the death of David Vergaretti the previous month; Livesey will serve on an interim basis until the November 2019 general election, when voters will select a candidate to serve the balance of the term of office.<ref>[http://www.matawanborough.com/matawan/Your%20GOVERNMENT/Agendas%2C%20Minutes%20%26%20Bill%20Lists/2019%20COUNCIL%20AGENDAS%20%26%20MINUTES/July%202%2C%202019%20Council%20Meeting%20Minutes.pdf Workshop Session Minutes July 2, 2019], Borough of Matawan. Accessed September 1, 2019. "Councilman Cannon made the motion to nominate Brian Livesey to fill the unexpired term of Councilman David Vergaretti, seconded by Councilman Reeve. Mayor Altomonte requested a roll call vote. A roll call vote was taken.... Motion passed."</ref> In the November 2019 general election, Livesey ran and won a full three-year term while John Lazar was elected to serve the balance of Vergaretti's term of office.<ref name=Monmouth2019>[https://results.enr.clarityelections.com/NJ/Monmouth/98884/web/#/summary General Election November 5, 2019 Official Results], [[Monmouth County, New Jersey]] Clerk, updated December 16, 2019. Accessed January 1, 2020.</ref>

===Federal, state and county representation===
Matawan is located in the 6th 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 12th 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#12 Districts by Number for 2011–2020], [[New Jersey Legislature]]. Accessed January 6, 2013.</ref>

{{NJ Congress 06}} {{NJ Senate}}

{{NJ Legislative 12}}

{{NJ Monmouth County Commissioners}}

===Politics===
{{PresHead|place=Matawan|source=<ref>{{Cite web |title=NJ DOS - Division of Elections - Election Results Archive |url=https://nj.gov/state/elections/election-information-results.shtml |access-date=2023-09-24 |website=nj.gov}}</ref>}}
<!-- PresRow should be {{PresRow|Year|Winning party|GOP vote #|Dem vote #|3rd party vote #|State}} -->
{{PresRow|2024|Republican|2,601|2,116|89|New Jersey}}
{{PresRow|2020|Democratic|2,410|2,497|102|New Jersey}}
{{PresRow|2016|Republican|2,183|1,929|182|New Jersey}}
{{PresRow|2012|Democratic|1,732|1,937|50|New Jersey}}
{{PresRow|2008|Democratic|1,983|2,090|57|New Jersey}}
{{PresRow|2004|Republican|2,081|1,880|29|New Jersey}}
{{PresRow|2000|Democratic|1,566|1,788|202|New Jersey}}{{PresRow|1996|Democratic|1,329|1,614|356|New Jersey}}{{PresRow|1992|Republican|2,653|1,426|742|New Jersey}}
|}
As of March 2011, there were a total of 5,315 registered voters in Matawan, of which 1,355 (25.5%) were registered as [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democrats]], 1,136 (21.4%) were registered as [[Republican Party (United States)|Republicans]] and 2,820 (53.1%) were registered as [[Unaffiliated (New Jersey)|Unaffiliated]]. There were 4 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-monmouth-co-summary-report.pdf Voter Registration Summary - Monmouth], [[New Jersey Department of State]] Division of Elections, March 23, 2011. Accessed December 5, 2012.</ref>

In the [[United States presidential election in New Jersey, 2012|2012 presidential election]], Democrat [[Barack Obama]] received 52.1% of the vote (1,937 cast), ahead of Republican [[Mitt Romney]] with 46.6% (1,732 votes), and other candidates with 1.3% (50 votes), among the 3,753 ballots cast by the borough's 5,667 registered voters (34 ballots were [[Spoilt vote|spoiled]]), for a turnout of 66.2%.<ref name="2012Elections">{{cite web |url=http://www.state.nj.us/state/elections/2012-results/2012-presidential-monmouth.pdf |title=Presidential General Election Results - November 6, 2012 - Monmouth 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-monmouth.pdf |title=Number of Registered Voters and Ballots Cast - November 6, 2012 - General Election Results - Monmouth 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 49.9% of the vote (2,090 cast), ahead of Republican [[John McCain]] with 47.3% (1,983 votes) and other candidates with 1.4% (57 votes), among the 4,188 ballots cast by the borough's 5,604 registered voters, for a turnout of 74.7%.<ref>[http://www.state.nj.us/state/elections/election-results/2008-gen-elect-presidential-results-monmouth.pdf 2008 Presidential General Election Results: Monmouth County], [[New Jersey Department of State]] Division of Elections, December 23, 2008. Accessed December 5, 2012.</ref> In the [[United States presidential election in New Jersey, 2004|2004 presidential election]], Republican [[George W. Bush]] received 52.3% of the vote (2,081 ballots cast), outpolling Democrat [[John Kerry]] with 47.3% (1,880 votes) and other candidates with 0.5% (29 votes), among the 3,978 ballots cast by the borough's 5,440 registered voters, for a turnout percentage of 73.1.<ref>[http://www.state.nj.us/state/elections/election-results/2004-presidential_monmouth_co_2004.pdf 2004 Presidential Election: Monmouth County], [[New Jersey Department of State]] Division of Elections, December 13, 2004. Accessed December 5, 2012.</ref>

In the [[New Jersey gubernatorial election, 2013|2013 gubernatorial election]], Republican [[Chris Christie]] received 68.2% of the vote (1,638 cast), ahead of Democrat [[Barbara Buono]] with 30.3% (727 votes), and other candidates with 1.5% (37 votes), among the 2,432 ballots cast by the borough's 5,678 registered voters (30 ballots were spoiled), for a turnout of 42.8%.<ref name="2013Elections">{{cite web |url=http://www.state.nj.us/state/elections/2013-results/2013-general-election-results-governor-monmouth.pdf |title=Governor - Monmouth 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-monmouth.pdf |title=Number of Registered Voters and Ballots Cast - November 5, 2013 - General Election Results - Monmouth 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 58.0% of the vote (1,639 ballots cast), ahead of Democrat [[Jon Corzine]] with 32.5% (920 votes), Independent [[Chris Daggett]] with 7.5% (213 votes) and other candidates with 1.2% (35 votes), among the 2,827 ballots cast by the borough's 5,377 registered voters, yielding a 52.6% turnout.<ref>[http://www.njelections.org/election-results/2009-governor_results-monmouth.pdf 2009 Governor: Monmouth County] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121017230351/http://www.njelections.org/election-results/2009-governor_results-monmouth.pdf |date=October 17, 2012 }}, [[New Jersey Department of State]] Division of Elections, December 31, 2009. Accessed December 5, 2012.</ref>