No

A partisan election gives a tremendous advantage to candidates that are chosen by the two main parties. Democrats and Republicans get the first two lines on the ballot, under candidates for higher office, and frequently get automatic votes from people who vote the “party line” for higher level candidates.

Anyone willing to run as an independent for any office would be over on the right-hand side of the ballot after all the minor parties, at a great disadvantage.  They run under various other nominations by petition where there is room, and no control over what slogan may appear at the top of their ticket – the claim that you will know what party they belong to is false. In fact, out of 57 elected municipal officials in Mercer County in partisan towns, ZERO were independent candidates.  That is why many towns have switched to NonPartisan for local elections.

In our current NonPartisan election process, all candidates for municipal office run under a separate section. Order is chosen by random selection.  Anybody can run. This is a fair process that gives everybody an opportunity to run as an individual or slate under their own slogan. They must present themselves to the voter and not hide behind a party label.