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In New Jersey, the board of chosen freeholders is the county legislature in each of the state's 21 counties.
New Jersey's system of naming county legislators "freeholders" is unique in the United States. The origin of the term was in the provisions of the New Jersey State Constitution of 1776, which stated:[1]
The name "freeholder" in the "board of chosen freeholders" is because "clear estate" is also known as a freehold. "Chosen" simply means elected.[2]
Today, state law specifies that the boards may contain between three and 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 freeholders varies from all elected in districts to all elected at large to various systems in between. Elections are first past the post 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 is used.
Depending on the county, the executive and legislative functions may be performed by the board or split.[3] In some counties, members of the board of chosen freeholders perform both legislative and executive functions on a commission basis, with each freeholder assigned responsibility for a department or group of departments. In other counties (Atlantic, Bergen, Essex, Hudson, and Mercer), there is a directly elected county executive who performs the executive functions while the board of chosen freeholders 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.
All freeholders are elected to three-year terms.
United States Census Bureau, Republican Party (United States), Cape May County, New Jersey, New Jersey Legislature, New Jersey
United States Census Bureau, Hudson County, New Jersey, Paramus, New Jersey, Hackensack, New Jersey, New York City
Newark, New Jersey, United States Census Bureau, New Jersey Legislature, Union County, New Jersey, East Orange, New Jersey
Jersey City, New Jersey, United States Census Bureau, Manhattan, New York City, Bergen County, New Jersey
Trenton, New Jersey, United States Census Bureau, Lawrence Township, Mercer County, New Jersey, Middlesex County, New Jersey, Burlington County, New Jersey
Hudson County, New Jersey, New Jersey, Board of Chosen Freeholders, Internet Archive, East Newark, New Jersey
New Jersey General Assembly, Bergen County, New Jersey, New Jersey, Englewood, New Jersey, Democratic Party (United States)
Hudson County, New Jersey, Jersey City, New Jersey, Democratic Party (United States), New Jersey, Robert C. Janiszewski
Bergen County, New Jersey, Fordham University, Franklin Lakes, New Jersey, Democratic Party (United States), Board of chosen freeholders