Council Concerned Election Move Could Cause Disinterest

Following recent discussions by the Ridgewood Board of Education on moving school voting from April to November, the village council on Wednesday night floated the idea of doing away with its standalone May election.

But council members were concerned that moving their own election to November could increase partisanship in the race and decrease the attention paid to candidates for local government.

Councilwoman Bernadette Walsh said that she brought the idea up for discussion since the move had been explored by the school board.

“We’re always looking at ways to save here and there,” she said. “I thought that it would be good...because they were having the conversation at the board of ed, for us to have the conversation.”

According to Heather Mailander, the village clerk, the cost of operating the council election is the same as that of the board of education balloting - roughly $43,000.

And while the school district has been balancing those savings - along with other potential benefits - with the elimination of the annual April budget referendum, the concerns of the council were different, and related to issues that have not been prominent in discussions among school officials.

“It may create a situation where the nonpartisan candidates for council members are asked what their political affiliations are,” Mailander said Monday night.

Such was the case, officials remembered, during a special council election in November 2010, when candidates for the lone vacant council seat were placed in columns also occupied by major party candidates for other races.

And while turnout is generally higher in statewide or national races, Mailander recalled that participation in the November 2010 council race was around 30 percent lower than the elections at the top of the ballot - meaning that many who went to the polls stopped voting when they reached the local candidates.

She noted that Mahwah, where the nonpartisan council holds November elections, has been able to move its candidates over on the ballot, placing them outside the Republican and Democratic columns, though they still occupy slots with third party candidates.

Deputy Mayor Albert Pucciarelli worried that voters, who generally turn out in smaller but more informed numbers to select representatives to Village Hall, might lose focus if council candidates occupy a more crowded ballot.

“I have a feeling if the village council is swept up in a presidential election, a gubernatorial election, the amount of interest, focus and education that’s going to be placed upon the village candidates is going to be less than when there’s a dedicated election just for that purpose,” he said.

None on the dais expressed strong opinions in favor of the switch, and Councilwoman Gwenn Hauck expressed concern with a change because by law, the council could only reconsider ten years from its last election.

“I think there is a lot of benefit to having a focus on our local races just as they are,” said Mayor Paul Aronsohn, who said he had “very strong views” against the switch.

“I think we’d get lost if we ended up on the general ballot.”