Calls on Manor candidates to commit to referendum to move village elections to November
To the editor:
This is an open letter to Pelham Manor Mayor Jennifer Monachino Lapey and trustees A. Michelle DeLillo and Joseph Senerchia, and candidates Ramsey McGrory, Andrea Ziegelman and Lance Koonce.
Even in this age of partisan politics, one thing most of us agree on is the importance of safeguarding the integrity of our democracy. It is up to each of us to protect democratic principles, especially at local levels where we must do this work for ourselves. Currently, the Village of Pelham Manor Board of Trustees elections are held in March, and candidates are chosen at caucuses by a handful of party insiders. Oversight of the elections is provided by our local election commissioner, a paid position that reports directly to the board whose membership is determined by these same elections.
It is anti-democratic for whichever party has control to not only be a player in the game but also the referee. We can fix this by voting to move our village elections to Election Day in November, securing its integrity with bipartisan county oversight.
Moving village elections to November means:
- Increased voter participation
- Early voting
- Transparent primaries in place of caucuses
- Bipartisan election oversight
- Aligns with Village of Pelham, town, county, state and federal elections
- Guaranteed time off to vote
- A small cost savings for the village
In 2018 we, along with over 700 of our neighbors, petitioned the Village of Pelham Manor under New York State Election Law to allow the citizens of the Manor to decide by referendum the question of moving the village elections to November. The petitions were rejected by the election commissioner on trivial technical grounds. And despite the widespread bipartisan support for a vote on the matter, the board has refused to use its authority to directly place the referendum on the ballot.
Incumbents and challengers, will you each publicly pledge to protect our democracy and, if elected, allow your constituents to decide by referendum whether to move the Village of Pelham Manor elections to Election Day in November?
Alexy Scholl and Michael Teitelbaum
1076 Grant Ave.
Tara Harned Weishaupl • Feb 18, 2021 at 6:02 pm
We all know that Election Day is the first Tuesday in November. At the heart of supporting keeping elections in March is the wish to keep the status quo rather than strive to remove barriers to voting. Low-turnout March elections are undemocratic, with fewer voters involved in important contests for Trustee seats and Mayorship. Voter supression tactics take many forms and this is one of them.
That being said, I strongly support putting this on the ballot for the will of the people to be heard. Let the the citizens, not the politicians, decide on when local elections are held. Refusal to put this up for a vote maintains power in politicians’ hands instead of power residing with the people.
Ramsey McGrory, Andrea Ziegelman and Lance Koonce • Feb 17, 2021 at 11:59 am
Alexy and Michael:
Thank you for raising this important issue.
We, the candidates running on the Pelham Manor Forward and Democrat Party lines, strongly believe that the residents of Pelham Manor should be allowed to vote on moving Village elections to November to align with county, state and national elections. Our position is clearly stated in our Platform, which was posted this weekend and can be found at http://www.PelhamManorForward.com/our-platform.
To be clear, having a referendum on this issue does not guarantee that elections will be moved – that will be up to voters. Also, our position on this issue will not have any effect on the March 16 election in which we are running for Mayor and two Trustee positions.
The points raised in your letter are great ones, and are precisely why we believe that this issue should be put directly to the voters in Pelham Manor. While there may be historical reasons why March elections made sense, it is abundantly clear that in 2021, the main effect of having separate elections in March is low voter turnout. Our Platform makes clear that one of our cornerstone beliefs is that the Village of Pelham Manor should strive for more civic engagement, not less. Elections timed to facilitate better voter turn-out serve that purpose.
This should not be a partisan issue, and indeed we are aware that many hundreds of residents from both sides of the aisle have expressed support for a referendum on this issue in recent years. As you note, moving the election to November will create bipartisan county oversight and, again, bring the timing of Pelham Manor local elections into alignment with elections in the Village of Pelham, the Town of Pelham, Westchester County, New York State and the U.S.
Again, thank you for raising this, and we are happy to answer any further questions anyone may have on this issue. You can reach us at [email protected], and we do a regular meet-the-candidates Zoom call every Sunday at 4pm.
Ramsey, Andrea and Lance
Ferdinand Spucci • Feb 16, 2021 at 10:15 pm
There are several inaccuracies and half truths in this letter which should be addressed. The most egregious is the implication that having the village elections in March is un-democratic. What nonesense!
1.People who are interested in the party caucuses and are registered with their party are free to attend them.
2.There is no guarantee that by having the election in November you will automagically have the need for a primary.
3. Early voting, in my humble opinion, deprives the voter of changing his mind before election day. After all, circumstances in as savy a village as ours change quickly and decisions made in advance may be regretted by eection day.
4. All elections in the village have “bipartisan oversight” when there is a contested election regardless of whether the date of the election is March or November.
5. Time off to vote? Polls are open well in advance of the workday and close at 9:00PM. There is ample time to vote and you must remember that not all employers give time off unless it is a presidential election.
6. The fact that the Manor’s elections are in March allows our residents to focus on what truly matters, local representation and village government. Voters who come out to vote do so because they understand their civic duty and they vote for the best candidate who will address the issues and are available all year round to discuss matters the public feels important.
Having a referendum to fix something which is not broken is counter productive and wasteful.