PASCACK VALLEY AREA—Registered voters in the Pascack Valley were mailing in ballots and heading to early voting locations in River Vale and Woodcliff Lake — early voting started Oct. 29 and ends Nov. 6 — to cast ballots in competitive races for the Fifth Congressional District, Bergen County Executive, two Bergen County Commissioners, plus a slew of local mayor, council and school board races.
According to Bergen County Clerk’s Office Elections Division, as of Oct. 31, Bergen County totaled 621,134 registered voters, most of any of the state’s 21 counties. A Pascack Press total of our eight Pascack Valley towns showed 55,322 registered voters.
Registered voters broke down as: Emerson, 5,469; Hillsdale, 8,184; Montvale, 6425; Park RIdge, 6,967; River Vale, 8,112; Township of Washington 7,363; Westwood, 8,021; and Woodcliff Lake, 4,781.
Election Day in-person voting starts Tuesday, Nov. 8, from 6 a.m to 8 p.m. in New Jersey, and county elections officials have been notifying registered voters to participate with several direct mailings to voters. This is New Jersey’s second year of in-person early voting, which ran Oct. 29–Nov. 6.
Pascack Press has provided candidate information on Pascack Valley council and school board races, including regional school board contests featuring the Westwood Regional School District and Pascack Valley Regional High School District. (See Pascack Press online for selected Election 2022 articles.)
Early voting began first in November 2021, under a state law signed by Gov. Phil Murphy.
In November 2020, New Jersey residents were requested to vote by mail-in ballots by Gov. Murphy to help reduce Covid-19 exposure and transmission. That year, counties sent mail-in ballots to all registered voters, and limited in-person voting was open on Election Day.
Bergen County Election Division officials said by late October that they had sent out 84,090 mail-in ballots, which was slightly lower than 87,042 vote-by-mail ballots sent out in 2021.
Preliminary voter data provided by the county Elections Office also showed increases in early voting numbers, in part due to election coverage and three fall mailings from the Bergen County Clerk John Hogan’s Office urging voter participation.
Participation Urged: ‘Take 5 Minutes’
The first county mailing proclaimed “3 Ways To Vote” that was mailed in early October and highlighted the options for General Election voting:
- Voting on Election Day, Nov. 8
- Voting by mail and how to apply for a mail-in ballot; and
- Voting in-person at an Early Voting location.
The brochure listed the nine early voting locations where any registered voter could show up at any location and vote in advance of the Tuesday, Nov. 8 General Election Day. In addition to the nearby River Vale Senior Center and Woodcliff Lake Tice Senior Center, early voting locations could be found in Fort Lee, Garfield, Hackensack, Mahwah, Paramus, Rutherford and Teaneck.
Moreover, mail-in voters could drop off their completed ballots at any of 32 secure ballot drop box locations countywide, including Pascack Valley locations at Emerson Borough Hall, Hillsdale Borough Hall Parking Lot, River Vale Borough Hall, Township of Washington Town Hall, and Westwood Community Center.
Also, resources for more information were listed. Questions about vote-by-mail ballots should go to the Bergen County Clerk’s Elections Division at (201) 336-7020. Questions about your polling place or the nearest secure mail-in ballot drop box should go to the Bergen County Board of Elections at (201) 336-6230. Questions about voter registration or to report a potential election violation should go to the Bergen County Supt. of Elections Office at (201) 336-6109.
A second mailing from the County Clerk’s Office urged voter registration by the Oct. 18 voter registration deadline, along with important deadlines for applying for a mail-in ballot. The six-panel mailing included a New Jersey Voter Registration Application. The mailing featured quotes about voting from presidents Abraham Lincoln and Lyndon B. Johnson, and singer-songwriter Taylor Swift. “Remember to vote. Participate in America’s Future,” states the mailing’s cover.
A third mailing from the clerk’s office cites Susan B. Anthony, the prominent social and women’s rights activist, who once said, “Someone struggled for your right to vote. Use it!” under a bold headline: “Exercise Your Right To Vote!”
The brochure again mentions the three ways to vote on Nov. 8 noting, “Voting has never been easier. You have three ways to vote. Please take five minutes of your time to exercise this important right as a U.S. citizen and Bergen County resident.”
Municipal/School Board Elections
Voters can access online any of the county’s 70 municipal ballots by logging onto bergencountyclerk.org, click on “Elections & Voting” and then on “Sample Ballots – 2022 General Election.”
Three Pascack Valley towns — Emerson, Park Ridge, and Woodcliff Lake — have contested races between Democratic and Republican candidates for two open council seats in each town; Westwood has a three-way race for two open council seats in the Nov. 8 General Election.
Emerson features the only mayoral challenge among 2022’s Pascack Valley towns, with first-term Republican Mayor Danielle DiPaola challenging Democratic newcomer Jeanine Lamatina, wife of former two-term mayor Louis Lamatina, under whose administration a controversial, litigation-plagued downtown mixed-use development featuring 147 apartments was approved in late 2018. (The development is under construction.)
See “Lamatina vs. DiPaola for Mayor: Block 419 deal details emerge” and “Family Town council candidates square off,” Pascack Press, Oct. 17, 2022.
Hillsdale, Montvale and River Vale have uncontested council or mayor races, while the Township of Washington offers no mayor or council races.
In our package of online stories are the views of council candidates who replied to Pascack Press outreach seeking details on their platforms.
For similar coverage of our area boards of education, both regional and local, see our PDF archive of back issues, via thepressgroup.net. See our coverage at “Municipal Elections in Focus,” Oct. 21. 2022, Pascack Press.