New Jersey New Jersey is a U.S. state, state in the Mid-Atlantic States, Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern United States, Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York (state), New York; on the ea ...

, a Board of County Commissioners (until 2020 named the Board of Chosen Freeholders) is the elected county-wide government board in each of the state's 21 counties. In the five counties that have an elected county executive, the board of county commissioners serves as the county legislature. In the remaining counties, the board of county commissioners exercises both executive and legislative functions, often with an appointed county administrator or manager overseeing the day-to-day operations of county government.

Origin

New Jersey's former system of naming its county legislative bodies "boards of chosen freeholders" was unique in the United States. The origin of the name can be traced back to a law passed by the General Assembly of the Province of New Jersey on February 28, 1713/14, which stated:

That the Inhabitants of each Town and Precinct, within each County, shall assemble and meet together on the second Tuesday in March yearly and every Year, at the most publick Place of each respective Town and Precinct, and, by the Majority of Voices, choose two Freeholders for every such Town and Precinct for the ensuing Year ; which county commissioners so chosen, or the major Part of them, together with all the Justices of Peace of each respective County, or any three of them (one whereof being of the Quorum) shall meet together… or the purpose of taking actions related to the construction and maintenance of county courthouses and jails

The term "freeholder" as originally used in "Board of Chosen Freeholders" originally referred to individuals who owned land (as opposed to leasing it) in an amount set by law, and was derived from the term freehold. "Chosen" means elected. The New Jersey State Constitution of 1776, contained the following voter qualification provisions applicable to those voting in New Jersey elections, including county freeholder elections:

That all inhabitants of this Colony, of full age, who are worth fifty pounds proclamation money, clear estate in the same, and have resided within the county in which they claim a vote for twelve months immediately preceding the election, shall be entitled to vote for Representatives in Council and Assembly; and also for all other public officers, that shall be elected by the people of the county at large.

On March 3, 1786, a law was passed that incorporated the justices and chosen freeholders of each county as a body politic for the purpose of owning the county courthouse, jail and other public buildings. These bodies were styled as the "Board of Justices and chosen Freeholders" of each respective county. A law that was passed on February 13, 1798, reincorporated the chosen freeholders into bodies that were named "The Board of Chosen Freeholders" of their respective counties. Under the new law, the functions previously performed by the justices and the chosen freeholders together were now performed by the freeholders alone. These included the authority to build and maintain jails, court houses and bridges. The Chosen freeholders were also now given the authority to build and operate poor houses.

Current use

Current state law specifies that the boards may contain from three to nine seats. Due to the small sizes of the boards and the possibility of electing an exactly split legislature with the inevitably resulting deadlock, an odd-numbered board is required. The means of election of the county commissioner varies from all elected in districts to all elected at large to various systems in between. Elections are

first past the post In a first-past-the-post electoral system (FPTP or FPP), formally called single-member plurality voting (SMP) when used in single-member districts or informally choose-one voting in contrast to ranked voting, or score voting, voters cast thei ...

for single-member districts, and for at-large elections when only one seat is at stake. For at-large elections with more than one seat,

plurality-at-large voting Plurality block voting, also known as plurality-at-large voting, block vote or block voting (BV) is a non-proportional voting system for electing representatives in multi-winner elections. Each voter may cast as many votes as the number of sea ...

is used. Depending on the county, the executive and legislative functions may be performed by the board or split. In some counties, members of the board of county commissioner perform both legislative and executive functions on a commission basis, with each county commissioner assigned responsibility for a department or group of departments. In other counties (

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, Hudson, and Mercer), there is a directly elected county executive who performs the executive functions while the board of county commissioner retains a legislative and oversight role. In counties without an executive, a county administrator (or county manager) may be hired to perform day-to-day administration of county functions. All of the above attributes may be changed by act of the board and a referendum, or by explicit change of the relevant laws by the

New Jersey Legislature The New Jersey Legislature is the legislative branch of the government of the U.S. state of New Jersey. In its current form, as defined by the New Jersey Constitution of 1947, the Legislature consists of two houses: the General Assembly and th ...

Controversy and name change

The term "freeholder," which is used in no other state, has been criticized as a vestige of a time when only property owners could be elected, which led to white men controlling political power at a time when women and black people were unable to own property on their own. In early July 2020, New Jersey Governor

Phil Murphy Philip Dunton Murphy (born August 16, 1957) is an American financier, diplomat, and politician serving as the 56th governor of New Jersey since January 2018. A member of the Democratic Party, he served as the United States ambassador to German ...

reached an agreement with the Democratic leaders in both houses of the legislature under which the term "freeholder" would be eliminated and replaced with "county commissioner". On July 14, 2020, Burlington County Freeholder Director Felicia Hopson called for "eliminating an antiquated title from an era when slavery and racism was tolerated" and announced plans for Burlington County to stop using the "freeholder" title on official communications and materials. The board planned to replace the title with "county commissioner" by passing a resolution at its August 20 meeting. On August 21, 2020, "amid a national reckoning to reexamine vestiges of structural racism," Governor Murphy signe
Senate Bill 855
which changed the name of county governing bodies and mandates updates to website, letterhead, stationary, and other writings. Lt. Governor

Sheila Oliver Sheila Y. Oliver (born July 14, 1952) is an American politician serving as the second lieutenant governor of New Jersey since 2018. She previously served in the New Jersey General Assembly from 2004 to 2018, where she represented the 34th leg ...

, an African-American woman who was once a freeholder herself, said that the term "refers to a time when only white male landowners could hold public office." The legislation took effect on January 1, 2021 and requires compliance within "one year of the bill’s effective date" or January 1, 2022.

Structure by county

All county commissioners are elected to three-year terms.

References

{{Reflist, 30em County governing bodies in the United States County government in New Jersey

Origin

Current use

Controversy and name change

Structure by county

See also

References