To the editor:
We take our responsibility to vote seriously, but like many readers of this publication, we are juggling a lot during the week. With our work schedules, the kids’ school schedules, extracurriculars and community work, usually we’re just thankful to make it to “Finish-line Friday” in one piece! We try to vote in every Pelham Manor election, but with three elections per year, two of which at the unusual times of March and May, sometimes it gets lost in shuffle, and it can be difficult to work in a visit to the polls.
Proposition 3 is a referendum on the November ballot to consolidate the March election for Pelham Manor’s local officials with the November election for state and federal representatives. This means one fewer election to remember, one fewer trip to the polls. In addition, passing Prop 3 would result in budget savings for Pelham Manor since the county is responsible for the November election. To us, this seems like a “win-win.”
Surprisingly, there is a lot of pushback from Republicans about Prop 3. They claim it will inject national politics into our local elections. We hope the local Republican Party would think better of their voters; we’re more than capable of separating local issues from national ones. They also claim it’s a partisan effort to change the balance of power in the village. It seems to us that making voting easier isn’t partisan, it’s patriotic. Why would any political party want to make it harder to vote? Furthermore, I’m surprised that fiscal conservatives would balk at the opportunity to cut government spending.
Voting “yes” on Prop 3 is an obvious conclusion: We can reduce the number of elections per year, make it easier to vote and save the village money in the process.
Kimberly and Adam Riegel
652 Timpson St.
Scott Wolfgang • Oct 29, 2024 at 10:46 pm
Here is some additional data. Nearly 46% of the Village Trustee races in November 2023 were contested elections where just 17% will be in 2024 and 10% were in 2022. Talk to any elected leader and they will tell you in Democrat bastions like Westchester it’s simply not worth investing 9-10 months required by the primary to run in an even year election (especially presidential year) where more people are increasingly likely to vote party row to the detriment of their local village. These candidates save their energy for the odd years when this dynamic is not as prevalent. Again, this is not a positive for electing the best local leaders and please go ask those that have run for office and they will share this exact experience.
Scott Wolfgang • Oct 28, 2024 at 12:05 pm
I would look at the experience of Tuckahoe to push back on your claim that people don’t vote party line in national, November elections. They moved their village to November in 2023. Their Democratic incumbent (Darryl Taylor) missed the Democratic primary cut off and despite getting 1,030 votes in the local, March 2021 ballot, he received just 695 votes (dead last) on the November 2023, national ballot when he was unable to run on a row with national party affiliation. Ironically, Tuckhoe’s March 2021 local election had 1898 votes vs 1915 in November 2023 for the comparable Trustee/Mayoral races disputing the claims of the supporters of these referendums that November races will drastically increase turnout.
When people say local issues will be lost on a national, November ballot, the Darryl Taylor experience in Tuckahoe is a prime example whereby when there are 10-15 races (vs. 1 in our March election), voters are far more likely to vote across their preferred partisan row to the detriment of local village issues. There are a lot of opinions being thrown around as to what a March vs a November election might do, but just go look at VoP and Tuckahoe who have made this change. Interestingly, in the Tuckhoe example, Darryl Taylor is back on the D row in November 2024 and his and his running mate’s slogan is now “Vote Row A (their party), All the Way”.
Adam Ilkowitz • Oct 29, 2024 at 5:39 am
You call out one trustee, but what about the wider election?
Tuckahoe elected a D mayor in 2021 with 1,887 total votes cast. 2 D Trustees and 3,733 votes total (vote for two).
Tuckahoe elected an R mayor in 2023 with 1,880 votes cast. 1 D and 1 R trusted and 3,400 votes total.
Interestingly, the non-Darryl D trustee got 967 votes on the D line in 2021 and 63 on BPP. In 2023, that shifted to 615 and 380. This tells me that a local campaign that tried to get people to vote BPP shifted one-third away from the partisan line! The R split with 2d party went from 720/120 to 800/50.
The general public doesn’t care about these secondary choices. Both D and R do it in Pelham Manor (remember the Manor Together or Neighborhood parties?) and it is never the popular line.
Fact is, Darryl screwed up. Can’t make a deadline? Wouldn’t get my vote either. This time, followed the process. “Row A all the way” sounds like a good election slogan.
What you instead expose is the fear that “the D will sweep and mess up the village!” The D portion of the vote in VoPM has been increasing for years, even though they keep losing, because of changing demographics. That’s likely to continue, no matter when the vote happens.
If this switch challenges the “Neighborhood Party” to be more receptive to resident complaints to keep winning, then isn’t that a win for the Village? If the “Manor Together Party” wins and screws up, do you think residents won’t hold them accountable? Do people think that little of their neighbors?
Scott Wolfgang • Oct 29, 2024 at 9:28 pm
I don’t care what party wins our local elections. I dont want them to be impacted by larger ballots with party row votes. Highlighting how much of an issue this is specifically in presidential years, just look at the 2024 November local races. There are 22 across Westchester and 20 are uncontested with 19 of those all democrats (the other one is a non partisan election). It’s not worth the 9 months run up of campaigning that the primary creates in a presidential year when the preponderance of voters are going to vote the prevailing party line. You simply don’t stand much of chance without a D next to your name even as a highly qualified local candidate.
Your tuckahoe observations highlight this phenomenon as in an odd year, which is your example, there are no other races on the November ballot so voters can’t be drawn to vote across a row of 10+ races. Thanks for proving my point!