Ridgewood Election Consolidation Petitions 'Rejected' Again

RIDGEWOOD, NJ — Last week, One Village, One Vote said it was "time to let the voters decide." Unfortunately for the group, the Village Clerk rejected their attempt to do so.

One Village, One Vote, a group formed to attempt to put an election consolidation question on ballots in November, was informed Tuesday that the clerk rejected the submission of their revised petition.

"This occurred despite our rapid resubmission of a revised petition that addressed the Clerk’s stated reasons for her initial rejection," they said in an update.

The local group is seeking to consolidate Ridgewood's 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.

After submitting 570 signatures to get the question on the ballot in July, the Village Clerk rejected the submission, citing insufficiencies. Given 10 days to correct the insufficiencies, the group resubmitted their petition last week, with 582 signatures.

However, that petition was also blocked, this time, the group said, without much reason.

"Given that we resubmitted a petition that fully addressed the Clerk’s initial concerns, we are stumped," they said.

The one piece of information the group did receive from the office is that the effort will be discussed further at a Sept. 2 Village Council meeting.

A moment of excitement after resubmitting signatures has proved to be fleeting for the group, who are now expressing concern about how much time is remaining before the November elections.

"We will be meeting as a group to determine next steps. We are especially concerned that we have minimal time before ballots are finalized for the upcoming election, and hope to update you in the near future," the group said.