The Cape May County Clerk’s office announced Tuesday that all school districts in Cape May County will hold their annual school elections in November, under a law signed by Gov. Christie on Jan. 17.

“All 17 school districts have moved their annual school elections from April to the November General Election,” said Rita Marie Fulginiti, County Clerk.  “This will save the taxpayers annually between $85,000 and $111,000 countywide and will create other efficiencies for the local boards of education, municipal clerks, the Cape May County Board of Elections and the County Clerk’s Office because we won’t be devoting staff time and resources to holding April elections.”

The school election will continue to be a separate non-partisan election.  It will be held now on the same day as the General Election which has federal, state, county and municipal candidates and ballot questions.

“This year will be especially challenging because we have a presidential election, with many candidates on the November General Election ballot and we expect a larger voter turnout than other, non-presidential years.” Fulginiti said.

Candidates for local boards of education will be filing nominating petitions with the County Clerk’s Office by the deadline of June 5, before 4 p.m.  This is a change for school board candidates who formerly were required to file petitions with their local board of education secretaries.

Candidates with expiring terms of office this year will have those terms extended a few months longer until the boards of education hold their reorganization meetings in January.

The County Clerk’s Office is working with the board of education secretaries, business administrators and the Cape May County Superintendent of Schools to make a smooth transition from the traditional April School Elections to the November General Elections, according to Fulginiti. Candidate petition forms will continue to be available from local board of education secretaries and will also be available from the County Clerk’s Office either online or in hard copies at the office.