Rockaway Budget Observatory

Rockaway Township · Rockaway Borough · Morris Hills Regional build 2026-08-06-pub · all versions
The Vanishing Vote · Representation + Accountability · flat (2D)

A record that names almost nobody

Of 4,095 recorded votes over sixteen years, only 268 record how any individual member voted. And where members do divide, it is almost never about money.

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6.5%
of votes record who voted — 268 of 4,095. The other 93.5% say only "all present voting yes."

How often the board divides, by what it is voting on

Share of votes in each category with any recorded dissent. Denominated in named appearances, not total votes.

The honest caveat. High unanimity is also consistent with a board that argues in committee and votes in public — how many well-run boards operate. What discriminates is dissent on contested items; and the record itself is the deeper problem, because 93.5% of votes name nobody at all. Per-member rates are denominated in named appearances, never inferred from silence.
source: data/voting_record.json (by_category, by_year, meta) · data/meeting_analytics.json findings R8, R9, R11 →