ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. (AP) — Atlantic City voters will be allowed to decide whether to scrap their current form of government, which includes an elected mayor, in favor of one led by a city manager.

A Superior Court judge on Wednesday allowed the March 31 special election to proceed as planned, rejecting a challenge to the vote brought by the city's Democratic Party.

Backers of the change cite Atlantic City's long history of government corruption and mismanagement and say a city manager would bring much-needed professionalism to City Hall. Opponents view it as yet another attempt by out-of-towners to seize power and money from a city led by minority officials.

Judge Julio Mendez heard nearly three hours of arguments for and against the election Monday and issued his ruling Wednesday.

“The voters should have the opportunity to voice their opinion through their vote on March 31, 2020,” the judge wrote in his opinion. “This court is also guided by the state of New Jersey's longstanding legal principle that the right to vote is a fundamental Constitutional right. The right to referendum is intimately tied to an individual's right to vote.”

The ballot question asks whether to replace Atlantic City's current system of a directly elected mayor and nine council members with an appointed city manager and a five-member council. The new form of government also would eliminate the public's right to seek ballot questions through the initiative and referendum process.

Mendez wrote that courts have been hesitant to allow “minor technical deficiencies to stand in the way of people's right to vote.”

Opponents of the special election asked the judge to cancel it, alleging many petition signatures were fraudulently obtained and voicing concern that the new political arrangement would make it much harder for minorities to get elected. Backers say that the changes would bring professionalism to a city notorious for corruption and that the signatures were collected lawfully.

A group calling itself Atlantic City Residents for Good Government collected petition signatures seeking a special election to force the changes. It is led by Bob McDevitt, president of the city's main casino workers' union; Morris Bailey, owner of Resorts Casino, and a retired state Senator, Raymond Lesniak.

Former Mayor Frank Gilliam Jr. is to be sentenced next month in federal court for stealing $87,000 from a youth basketball program he founded, the latest in a long line of corrupt Atlantic City politicians dating to the early 1900s.

“There was no surprise on our side that what we did was legal and fair," McDevitt said after the ruling.

Democratic Mayor Marty Small was not immediately available for comment. But he said earlier in the week that he expected the judge to let the election take place and vowed to redouble his efforts to rally opposition to the proposed change.

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Follow Wayne Parry at http://twitter.com/WayneParryAC