
November 2,2016
the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Ridgewood NJ, Rurik Halaby alleges that Mayor Susan Knudsen and Deputy Mayor Mike Sedon intend to impede your right to vote and intimidate you at the voting both.
On the Facebook group “It Takes a Ridgewood Village”
Rurik Halaby posted ,“Remember Ridgewood Citizens, we live in Ridgewood, NJ, and not Birmingham-in-Bergen. As a naturalized American Citizen I value my right to vote above every other right I have, and I will be damned if I am letting anyone impede that! Our Mayor and Deputy Mayor supposedly are registered as “Challengers.” What in the world does that mean, if you are not out to intimidate.”
While the Glen Rock Patch called it an, ” ‘Unprecedented’ Situation As Challengers Register To Be At Ridgewood Polling Locations” . Some of you should really vote more often ,challengers have been used at almost every election ,yes even in Ridgewood since I first voted in 1980 .
As a voter Mr. Halaby and others should familiarize with NJ Statute Title 19: ELECTIONS.
A “Challenger” is there to assure the integrity of the election . Challengers (AKA poll watchers) defend voter’s rights and their only interest is the conduct of a fair and honest election.
What a Challenger Can Do
Challengers must be seated near the board workers so that they may hear the names of the voters being processed.
Challengers can write down the names and address of voters.
Challengers can challenge a voter. This process must be done in accordance with state and federal laws.
Challengers may request the public counter numbers on the voting machine from the board workers. The board workers can give this information to the challengers provided they are not busy with voters or their other duties.
Challengers can be present at the close of the polls to witness the opening of the voting machines and hear the unofficial vote totals.
What a Challenger Cannot Do
Challengers cannot address the voters. They must inform the board workers when they wish to initiate a challenge.
Challengers cannot challenge a voter based on:
Their race, sex, creed, ethnic origin.
How they think they might vote.
The fact they live in a particular ward, housing complex or section of a municipality or county.
Challengers cannot stand behind the election tables or go near the voting machines.
Challengers cannot look over the shoulders of or sit with the board workers.
Challengers cannot touch the voting machines or registration books.
Challengers cannot use cellphones, blackberries, iPhones, laptops or any other electronic/wireless communicating device while in the polling location.
Challengers cannot wear any partisan/political buttons, pins, hats, clothing, signs, etc while in the polling location. They can only be identified by the county-issued badge and permit.
Challengers cannot campaign in the polling location.
Challengers cannot disturb the quiet and business-like atmosphere of the polling location.
Challengers cannot harass or intimidate any voters.
Perhaps Mr.Halaby could get some info from the League of Women Voters , after all,it has been recently infected by a whole host of former Mayor Paul Aronsohn supporters clearing looking to still hold some sway over Village of Ridgewood politics.
Why do we suddenly need Challengers? What has changed?
I have been voting in Ridgewood for 30 years and have never encountered a challenger.
we have had them all the time , did it myself in the early 2000’s twice, you should vote more often and something did change the previous mayor and his sleazeball friend came to destroy Ridgewood
Somewhat ironic that he is so concerned with the integrity of our representative democracy and yet remains in thrall to the Aronsohn regime. He is definitely burnishing his cranky gadfly credentials.
Challengers have always been around. Both major parties. No news. No issue, Mr. Halaby. Voters are sick of the less-than-transparent Village Council. If the current council moves to obfuscate any issues, they will be called out. Now, go vote.
Mr. Halaby is using some libelous rhetoric in his rant. What proof does he have? I demand a written apology in this blog from Mr. Halaby. He should be ashamed.
Have done it multiple times since 2010. Will do it again Tuesday. See you at the polls, 2:06pm. With permit and badge issued by the county clerk. It’s good for local residents to get more involved.
Given the criteria above, what exactly is a challrnger looking for? What would make him/her challenge a voter?.
Their race, sex, creed, ethnic origin.
How they think they might vote.
The fact they live in a particular ward, housing complex or section of a municipality or
If they can’t talk directly to the voter how do they proceed?
As I said, 30 years voting in Ridgewood, never saw a challenger
like I said you have not voted much if you have not seen a challenger before .Since you did not read the article they specifically can not challenge anyone based on their race, sex, creed, or ethnic origin,usually people showing up looking for free beer claiming to be someone who has been dead since 1967 is a dead give-away
I have voted here for forty years at the high school and never noticed a “challenger” just old people sitting at a table, asking me to sign my name.
Who even looks around for that shit. When I vote I just want to get it over with and be on my way, like a public bathroom.
The First Amendment takes a beating every time Mr Halaby shoots off his mouth. There have been challengers at the polls for years. Only when Aronsohn & Co were around did the need for them come to light.
Sorry, I meant if they can’t challenge on that criteria what can they base their challenge on.
For the third time, no lie, I have been voting in Ridgewood for 30 years and never saw a challenger. I see mostly the same poll workers. Never a line.
Never a challenger. So, what CAN trigger a challenge?
claim you are Abraham Godwin
Can a poll watcher look at me and decide that I look too old to have a kindergartner and challenge my right to vote in Ridgewood?
It’s scary that highly educated people in an affluent town are so ignorant on the voting process.
.
I guess I should not be surprised since civics (actual civics, not social justice-activism civics) is no longer taught in the schools.
.
Challengers may be sitting there and say nothing if they see no potential problem–which is very likely most or all the time. Thus it would be very easy not to notice them. They’re there to ensure that voters’ rights are respected and if everything looks peachy-keen, they have still done their job. This is a sign of democracy that we should be proud of. No one who is entitled to vote will be denied that privilege. Sincerely, Samuel Graydon
If you never noticed a poll watcher it’s because they were just ….get ready for it……watching!
Rurik is just a senile old man. Ignore everything
A challenger may personally know their neighbors, and therefore know when someone is impersonating their neighbor while trying to vote fraudulently. The challenger may be aware that an entry on the voter rolls is that of a dead person. So, if someone is trying to vote using the dead person’s identity, that person should definitely be challenged. If one or more of the poll workers themselves is planning to rig the vote in a particular district, heaven forbid, they could very well be dissuaded by the presence of a challenger from the opposite party. For example, a poll worker may be in cahoots with a candidate, which could produce a lot of fraud very quickly if the ineligible voters are allowed to use the voting machine to cast their votes rather that being confined to the use of the paper ballot option. The biggest problem, by far, is ineligible voters being allowed to use the actual voting machine to cast their votes. There is essentially no way, after the fact, to exclude, disqualify, or eliminate the fraudulent impact of a vote that was cast using the voting machine. It’s like trying to put toothpaste back into the tube, or remove a drop of poison that has already been diffused into someone’s beverage. You can’t do it. The best possible situation when a person wants to vote at the poll but is legitimately questionable as to their eligibility is to confine them to the use of a paper ballot and keep them away from the voting machine. This is the most important function of challengers who are physically present and remaining watchful at the polling locations.
I have been voting here for 40 years and have always understood there were poll watchers and challengers. Very often, they were our council people, and that was a good thing in the pre-Arohnson era of mistrust, because we trusted our council. Agree with the earlier comment that there is not much for them to do, because they know most of the folks coming in to vote. And since most of the time, our Villagers only vote when they are alive, and they only vote once, they don’t make many challenges.
Here’s a look at the cases being heard around the country:
—
NEW JERSEY
The case … relates to a consent decree in place since 1982 regulating what the Republican National Committee can do when it comes to issues of ballot security.
The consent decree was created after Democrats alleged that the RNC helped intimidate black voters during New Jersey’s 1981 gubernatorial election. The RNC and New Jersey’s Republican Party allegedly had off-duty law enforcement officers stand at polling places in urban areas wearing “National Ballot Security Task Force” armbands. Some had guns visible.
The RNC admitted no wrongdoing but agreed to the decree to settle the case. The decree only regulates work done by the RNC and is scheduled to end next year. The Democratic National Committee wants it extended another eight years, but needs to convince a judge that the RNC has violated the 34-year-old rules.
Joshua Kaul, an attorney representing the Democratic National Committee, told the judge in Newark, New Jersey, on Friday that Trump has “repeatedly encouraged his supporters to engage in vigilante efforts” in the guise of ferreting out potential voter fraud. Kaul said the RNC is participating.
Bobby Burchfield, an attorney for Republicans, told the judge that party volunteers are engaging in normal poll-watching and that Democrats haven’t found one instance in which someone was intimidated or prevented from voting.
Judge John Michael Vazquez did not immediately rule.
Rurik thinks that if you lie, and lie again, and lie loudly, then somehow a lie becomes the truth.
Just like Aronsohn