the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Ridgewood NJ, the “One Village One Vote” campaign is filled with misinformation and if it passes, residents will lose their right to vote on BOE budgets. The “One Village One Vote” campaign is a blatant attempt to to remove taxpayer oversight form the school budgeting process . The $115 million school budget account for approximately 2/3 of the Village property tax bill.
The most offensive part of this claim is the idea that because many residents choise not to vote , that means no one should get that right .
Over the next week the Ridgewood blog will examine the false claims and their consequences .
False Claim #2: “Ridgewood voter turnout is higher in November.”
TRUTH: Purposefully misleading. Sure, more people vote in presidential elections, the goal of the One Village One Vote campaign is to move our local Ridgewood elections, for Village Council and Board of Education, to November. While One Village One Vote cherry picked only nine years of elections, Keep Our Vote reviewed 24 years of Ridgewood local election statistics. One Village One Vote’s website also underreported turnout for the 2010, 2011, and 2013 Board of Education Elections.
Ridgewood local election turnout is higher in the spring than in November, demonstrated by data available from the Bergen County Clerk.
The November local elections experiment in Ridgewood has already failed. Turnout for Board of Education elections held in November from 2014 -2018 spanned from 12.5% (one of our lowest turnouts in the past several years) to 35.5%, an overall average of 24%. During that time, typically hotly contested Board of Education seats went uncontested for four out of those five elections. People stopped paying attention once the local elections were held simultaneously with national, state, and county issues.
Data for Ridgewood local elections held in the spring demonstrates that when voters have the opportunity to focus specifically on our local issues, turnout is higher. This year’s May election had a 29% turnout, higher than the entire November 2019 general election turnout of 22%. Average turnout for Ridgewood local elections is about 2% higher in the spring than in November.
A recent California study on election consolidation demonstrates that even the small incremental increases in voter turnout in certain large cities are not directly attributable to local elections or smaller municipalities. The study also cautions on the negative impact of voter consolidation, when “longer ballots might render it cognitively difficult for voters to make a choice in all contests leading to increased rates of voter roll-off” (when voters only vote for the higher office elections).
Those five will lie to your face. They lie behind your back. They lie to you and they lie about you. The entire One Village One Vote campaign is all lies.
Vote NO
Talk about misleading. Comparing turnout to an off-year election? Now compare turnout to 2016, 2012, 2008……it’s not in the 20’s.
Libs love taking power from people and keep it in the hands of a few. On more occasions in my nearly 30 years in the Village, more oversight is necessary then less. Vote NO to preserve your rights as a citizen of the Village.
How is increasing turnout putting power in the hands of fewer?
So let me ask the question what happens if the vote turns out to be yes. What happens after that?
then you lose your right to vote on the school budget
While on off years, there is limited turnout in November, the midterm and general election year turnout is trending upward exponentially. So this claim, that voter turnout is actually less in November, is not entirely factual.
Moving the school budget vote to November fast tracks the budget without a vote. School begins in September. At least we have the ability to vote in the Spring election process.
Don’t let the OVOV organization scam u into believing u can vote on the school budget in November.
Vote NO like your life and finances depend in it
lose your right to vote and have oversight…… joke. All you are voting for is a yes/no decision then if no, the village council who has no idea About school budget gets to play pretend. That’s what you call oversight…. lol joke. Vote yes. Let the school system manage the budget.
no thanks , think Orchard remediation
Like $700,000+ in new windows for Cottage Place.
The vote on the budget keeps them honest and on their toes.
Think Lan Associates
Always be skeptical when this group of individuals tries to advance an agenda. They’ve been on the wrong side of every issue since Valley.
Sad to say, the people who devised and pushed through this referendum do not have Ridgewood’s best interests at heart. They spend untold amounts of time, effort, and money to destroy the place. It is simply pathetic.
Tax payer oversight = the duly elected BOE members. That’s who should represent the voters. I don’t want my neighbors voting the school budget down because they don’t have kids in the schools anymore. That’s what will happen again and again and bye bye rankings.
Siobhan and Stacey are bigoted liars. Yes they are bigots. Siobhan fears men with any color in their skin. Yes she does. And yes they lie repeatedly. Why in the fuck would anyone follow their lead???
Dear James, Thank you for this post. Your comment that,”because many residents choose not to vote that means no one should get that right.” That is what bothers me and the inability to comment on their site and many are Ridgewood Moms and Dads supporters and they regularly block people and censor posts. What a group. I believe we have a good chance to get the majority of votes but the fact that is the only question on page 3 and the YES choice is first, it might get more hits. People tend to vote on the first choice especially if the question is long and there is no interpretive statement. But we can hope!
anyone willing to give up their right to vote did not deserve it in the first place
Voter turnout for RIDGEWOOD LOCAL ELECTIONS is lower in November and higher in the spring. Whoever said election consolidation is a liberal issue needs to read up. It’s a strategic move that’s been supported over the years by both sides. Like our nonpartisan local government, keeping our local spring elections is a nonpartisan issue that enjoys support from both sides of the aisle. The fact that people are even thinking that way should tell us to keep our local elections far, far away from November. Keep our annual school budget vote. VOTE NO!
Voting is not hard. If people aren’t turning out in the spring it is because they just don’t care or know anything about the issues.
People show up in November for the big elections – like this one. It doesn’t mean that they have read up on the local issues. Local issues are lost in all the noise. How many just make a decision while in the booth. How many knew that legalizing pot in NJ is on the ballot? It’s just not in the news and gets zero attention.
In the spring those who go to the polls are there to vote on local issues. Those who don’t go to the polls just don’t have an opinion. I am happy to vote.
“Tax payer oversight = the duly elected BOE members. That’s who should represent the voters. I don’t want my neighbors voting the school budget down because they don’t have kids in the schools anymore. That’s what will happen again and again and bye bye rankings.”
so those without out children will get a rebate on the school portion of their taxes?
when were Brogan’s Kids in school?
When were yours?
dont change the subject , admit your an ignorant bigot
*You’re
so you are admitting your nothing but an ignorant bigot
Flash: According to the Bergen County Clerk’s Office, Erin Lindenberg, spouse of Matthew Lindenberg a “One Village One Vote” petitioner, did not submit a ballot in May’s municipal election. Hmm.
Make sure you VOTE NO.
This is the biggest scam on the planet. ALL of Ridgewood is going downhill because the crazy far left from NYC is moving here. Their politics ruined NYC and now they want to ruin Ridgewood.
Holding on-cycle local elections would improve American democracy. Ridgewood shows us how. Voting YES!
https://www.northjersey.com/story/opinion/2020/10/13/nj-election-2020-should-be-rescheduled-opinion/5977922002/
The author of the editorial is from California. What the heck does he know about New Jersey politics? That group is so desperate to get the vote passed that they’re hiring somebody from California!
He’s an expert on racial and ethnic politics, urban politics, immigration, and political behavior…. something you are not anonymous.