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Ridgewood voters will lose their right to vote on every school budget

Ridgewood voters will lose their right to vote on every school budgetRidgewood voters will lose their right to vote on every school budgetRidgewood voters will lose their right to vote on every school budget

UNLESS YOU VOTE "NO" on the 

NOVEMBER MUNICIPAL BALLOT QUESTION





Ridgewood voters will lose their right to vote on every school budget

Ridgewood voters will lose their right to vote on every school budgetRidgewood voters will lose their right to vote on every school budgetRidgewood voters will lose their right to vote on every school budget

UNLESS YOU VOTE "NO" on the 

NOVEMBER MUNICIPAL BALLOT QUESTION





DON'T LOSE YOUR RIGHT TO VOTE

RIDGEWOOD VOTERS WILL LOSE THE RIGHT TO VOTE ON ALL BOARD OF EDUCATION BUDGETS UNLESS YOU  VOTE "NO" ON MOVING OUR LOCAL ELECTIONS  TO NOVEMBER  

 VOTING ON THE ANNUAL SCHOOL BUDGET IS THE BIGGEST MONEY SAVER AND MAXIMIZES FUNDS DIRECTLY BENEFITTING  EDUCATIONAL SERVICES

 RIDGEWOOD LOCAL ELECTIONS TURNOUT IS HIGHER IN THE SPRING WITH MORE ENGAGED AND INFORMED VOTERS FOCUSED ON RIDGEWOOD ISSUES 

The Municipal Ballot Question is on Page 3 - a Separate Page

VOTE NO to keep our annual school budget vote!

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What are they trying to hide?

OVOV is perpetrating a fraud on Ridgewood voters.

They say they want to confer with us, that we should settle our differences. 

Keep Our Vote keeps trying. And OVOV keeps lying. 

Keep Our Vote doesn't shy away from those who question our information. OVOV makes accusations and when we respond, our comments are removed. One by one, we are muted. We welcome your direct questions on our social media posts and via email at KeepOurVote@gmail.com. 

The truth has no versions.

False Claims by One Village One Vote

False Claims About Our Mailer

False Claims About Our Mailer

False Claims About Our Mailer

  On October 13th, OVOV posted false claims about our recent mailer. 

False claims debunked

False Claim #1

False Claims About Our Mailer

False Claims About Our Mailer

  “Thousands of voters enter our schools on each election day.” 

Claim #1 the truth

False Claim #2

False Claims About Our Mailer

False Claim #2

“Ridgewood voter turnout is higher in November.”

Claim #2 the truth

False Claim #3

False Claim #3 (continued)

False Claim #2

“Ridgewood is one of only fifteen municipalities in NJ that currently hold an automatic and separate vote on the school budget.”

Claim #3 truth

False Claim #3 (continued)

False Claim #3 (continued)

False Claim #3 (continued)

“If our Board of Education develops a budget that calls for a school tax increase greater than 2%, a public vote is required on that budget.” 

Claim #3 truth

False Claim #4

False Claim #3 (continued)

False Claim #3 (continued)

 “The Board of Ed election this past April cost our community $65K (up from the initial estimate of $42K when the April budget vote was reinstated). 

Claim #4 truth

False Claim #4 (continued)

False Claim #4 (continued)

False Claim #4 (continued)

“Consolidating our elections will reduce Ridgewood election costs, make better use of taxpayer dollars.”

Claim #4 truth

False Claim #4 (continued)

False Claim #4 (continued)

False Claim #4 (continued)

 “Off-cycle election costs could be cut from the budget or spent on other programs if all of our elections were consolidated to November.”  

Claim 4 truth

False Claim #5

False Claim #4 (continued)

False Claim #5

“Consolidating Village Council elections with November general elections does not make them partisan or confusing.”

Claim 5 truth

False Claim #6

False Claim #7 (continued)

False Claim #5

   “You have the power to change the voting cycle by signing our Petition.”

claim 6 truth

False Claim #7

False Claim #7 (continued)

False Claim #7 (continued)

“Incumbents and Special Interests Want to Deny Ridgewood the Right to Vote”

Claim 7 Truth

False Claim #7 (continued)

False Claim #7 (continued)

False Claim #7 (continued)

 “When local elections are moved to November, local participation is 49% higher."  

Claim 7 Truth

Ridgewood Local Elections Statistics

Local Election Turnout

Competitive/Uncompetitive Local Elections

Competitive/Uncompetitive Local Elections

All data collected from 

the Village of Ridgewood, 

the Ridgewood Public Schools, 

and the Bergen County Clerk. 

local election turnout data

Competitive/Uncompetitive Local Elections

Competitive/Uncompetitive Local Elections

Competitive/Uncompetitive Local Elections

All data collected from 

the Village of Ridgewood, 

the Ridgewood Public Schools, 

and the Bergen County Clerk. 

Competitive/Uncompetitive Data

Ridgewood Local Elections Turnout Spring & November

Money Talks

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There is no school budget vote if local elections are moved to November. Last March’s failed budget resulted in $630,000 savings to taxpayers every year going forward, compounded by each year’s budget increase. No school programs or educational services were impacted.


The 2%  cap is not a cap on the entire budget increase and highly unlikely to ever trigger a budget vote. High cost expenses are not included in the 2% cap.  Also, budget increases below 2% can be “banked” and added to a future budget.  


While Board of Education elections were held in November, the school budget increase for the 2018-2019 school year was 3.62% and did not trigger a vote.  The additional 1.62% equaled  $1.5 million from the taxpayers not needed to cover education costs.


Voting on the  school budget vote is  an insurance policy against Ridgewood taxpayers being unnecessarily overcharged. 

The Politics of Election Consolidation

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Election consolidation has been a largely unsuccessful topic in state legislatures across our country for decades, always promoted as a partisan political strategy for one side or the other, at various times.  


The law in New Jersey allowing local school elections to be moved to November is only 8 years old. There's a minimum 4 year waiting period to begin the process to move them back to April.  Several municipalities , including ours, have already done that. We are yet to see how many more will follow.


No data or study has demonstrated a specific benefit to local election turnout. 


A recent California study pointed to potential detriments of moving local elections to November.


Remember, the truth has no versions. Follow the facts.

Voter Turnout

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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).


Safety

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There is no data demonstrating that polling in schools poses any risk to students and staff.  


If parents and staff prefer however, professional development days, remote learning days, and hybrid remote/in person learning days are all viable options for local election days.


8 of the 10 schools used as polling locations have separate entrances to where polling takes place, isolating that activity from the rest of the school.

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