Op-Ed: Reinstate the Will of the Majority on Nov. 5 & Vote 'NO' on Hoboken Public Question No. 1

Citizens of Hoboken,

On Nov. 5, Hoboken citizens will vote to choose a Mayor and City Council and School Board representatives and to decide the outcome of a public question. Voters will cast their ballots under the time-honored assumption that their votes will democratically determine which candidates will be elected and whether changes to the law proposed by the public question will be enacted.

However, be aware that in Hoboken a precedent was set that can undermine the voters’ decision and overturn the results of a legitimate democratic election.  Although, to date, all candidates vying for office remain silent on this, what happened to the 16,444 Hoboken citizens who were robbed of their democratic voice in 2012 is of such critical importance that it should be exposed and addressed by any candidates asking for our vote to be elected to represent us because this precedent could allow outside monied interests to undo our democratic voice in 2013 and forever after.

Hoboken Public Question #1, which is on the 2013 ballot, is exactly the same ballot question that was voted on, and decided, in 2012;  in that election, a majority of 16,444 friends and neighbors voted to keep rent control protections in Hoboken by voting ‘NO’. However, an outside wealthy developer/real estate lobby contested the election results in court, submitting as evidence a list of 114 provisional voters that they claimed were disenfranchised Hoboken voters. In reality, many on the list did not even live in Hoboken, and not enough Hoboken voters were disenfranchised to change the election outcome, as required by law to void an election. Nonetheless without reviewing the evidence, the courts robbed the citizens of Hoboken of their democratic election result. Even though a majority of Hoboken citizens already voted last November on this issue, the voters will be forced to again cast their votes on a Hoboken Public Question #1 which appears in the lower right-hand corner of the Nov. 5, 2013 ballot. 

While the voters cannot undo the travesty of the court’s decision to overturn a legitimate democratic election result based on false evidence, we can send a loud and clear message at the polls that Hoboken believes that legitimate election results must not be stolen and, by voting 'NO' again on the public issue, reinstate last year’s legitimate election result. On Nov. 5, 2013 vote 'NO' on Hoboken Public Question #1.

--Hoboken Fair Housing Association