Dobbs Ferry, May 23, 2007. Dobbs Ferry woke up this morning to a beautiful Spring morning and the joyous news that the Referendum to move the Village Election Date to March was too close to call. With a 5 vote advantage out of 1,551 votes cast, the NO (Keep it in November) voters were smiling and marveling that their votes really did count. Everyone felt happy and empowered soaking in the power of democracy (and the sunshine). Everyone could take credit for the ‘victory’. Each average NO (Keep it in November) family with its 2.6 members had made the difference. The volunteers could all point to 6 people that they had personally influenced.
For the ‘defeated’ YES (Move it to March) voters, hope was not dead. With 30 or 40 remaining paper and absentee ballots, the outcome could still change in their favor. In seven days, the definitive result would be announced by the Board of Elections.
Even incumbent Mayor Joe Bova had a revelation when he lamented that the voter turn out was distressingly low,. It was less than half of last November. As the leader of the YES (Move it to March) faction, he had finally understood the reason for keeping Elections on Election Day in November, more people vote.