Ramapo Ward System Rejected--Affidavits Made the Difference

The effort to move the town of Ramapo to a ward system and to enlarge the town board to six members from four met with failure in an election that has already been the subject of a court ruling and an appeal.

“It appears that in total both propositions were defeated,” said Ramapo Town Clerk Chris Sampson, after counting ended Thursday afternoon.

The ward system was supported by residents who wanted neighborhoods other than those that are heavily Orthodox to have a greater say in town affairs.

The vote took place Sept. 30. But the organizers of the referendum complained immediately to the courts, saying that the town had allowed unregistered voters to cast ballots and had decided not to count absentee ballots that arrived after Election Day even though town officials had listed the deadline as a week after the election.

Machines, absentee ballots and affidavit ballots were immediately impounded. Judge Margaret Garvey of the Rockland County Supreme Court ruled the election invalid and called for a repeat, this one monitored by poll watchers and overseen by the county. She, however, was overruled by an appellate court, which said she didn’t have jurisdiction.

So then officials began counting all the votes—which took the last three weeks. Ramapo town staff validated and photocopied the thousands of absentee and affidavit ballots and turned it all over to the Rockland Board of Elections to be counted.

Total votes cast: 30,443

Total on proposition 1, to enlarge the town board to 6 councilmembers

yes: 14,644

no: 15,648

Total on proposition 2, for a ward system

yes: 14,687

no: 15,581

There were machine votes counted in 27 election districts, plus absentee and affidavit ballots. Here’s that breakdown:

Machine vote total: 27,563

Machine vote, Proposition 1

yes: 13,858

no: 13,581

Machine vote, Proposition 2

yes: 13,891

no: 13,526

Total absentee ballots counted: 581

Absentee ballots, Proposition 1

yes: 366

no: 209

Absentee ballots, Proposition 2

yes: 377

no: 201

Total affidavits: 2,299

Affidavits, Proposition 1

yes: 420

no: 1,858

Affidavits, Proposition 2

yes: 419

no: 1,854

Assemblyman Kenneth P. Zebrowski issued an immediate statement:

“The confusion that took place during the ward election is simply unacceptable. Elections must have clear and unambiguous rules and procedures. This election was not run with the level of transparency that the public deserves and it calls the results into question. As a result of the confusion last year, I authored legislation (A.4200B) that permits citizen initiated referendums, such as this one, to be held on general election day. This would ensure that all regular election laws apply and that the Board of Elections would run the election instead of the Town. This bill passed the Assembly but was not taken up by the Senate. I am hopeful that next year the Senate will pass the bill as well and we can ensure the fairness of these elections.”

PHOTO: from Monsey.com’s YouTube video of the vote tally announcement