Ridgewood Election Consolidation Effort Hits Roadblock

RIDGEWOOD, NJ — A petition to consolidate Ridgewood elections has been rejected by the Village Clerk, according to the organizing group One Village One Vote.

The group, which submitted 570 signatures as of July 6, is seeking to move Board of Education elections, held annually in April, and Village Council elections, held biannually in May, to the date of the General Election in November.

Despite submitting more than enough signatures, the Village Clerk rejected the petitions, citing two deficiencies:

• The full text of the proposed ordinance to change the elections timing must be on the signed petition forms.
• Every petition must be circulated directly by one of us, the Committee of Petitioners, and not gathered by someone else or downloaded directly from our website.

Now, according to the group, they must resubmit the necessary signatures. They announced an Aug. 11 deadline, which would give them "time to compile and resubmit."

"We are confident that, barring any additional unforeseen obstruction, this resubmission will be what gets us on the ballot in November," the group said.

For One Village One Vote, pushing for consolidated elections could solve two issues they believe are problematic: voter turnout and funding.

As a point of reference, the group cites the April 2019 election, in which voters cast ballots on the Ridgewood Public School budget.

Of the 18,262 registered voters, only 2,437 turned out for that election, or 14 percent of the electorate. The election, the group says, cost taxpayers $50,000.
"At best, this election was inefficient and at worst a thoughtless waste of Village resources and taxpayer money," they said.

The Village Council voted to move school board elections back to April in 2019, which allows voters to vote on the school district's budget.

According to a 2018 Patch report, 67 percent of villagers' tax bills go to the school district.

November elections in New Jersey don't require voter approval for school budgets, unless the proposed budget increases by more than 2 percent. In April, however, votes are cast on the budget regardless of increase.

Mayor Ramon Hache, at that 2018 meeting, said the decision was about right and wrong.

"It's not about making people happy. It's about what is right; 67 percent of tax dollars is not a small decision," Hache said. "The right and privilege to vote and the choice to vote, they are not the same. What empowers voters more is whether they choose to exercise it or not."