October 14, 2025

Dear community members,

Re. Prop to move Village elections to November

In March this year, I was a candidate for Trustee in our local, Village elections. There were three of us running for two available Trustee positions – I was a new challenger and the others were incumbents. It was an incredible experience. For two months I worked extremely hard sharing my credentials and my vision for Bronxville with as many people as possible. I spoke to groups of residents in people’s homes, addressed gatherings at the library, and enjoyed meeting commuters on the train platform and hearing their thoughts. We spoke about flood control, street safety, and how our business district can continue to flourish, among other topics important to people throughout the village.

I was honored that voters rewarded me with 653 votes. I’m grateful for every single one of these. And while I ultimately fell short by only 58 votes, I’m proud that I played a role in driving a level of engagement and voter participation not seen in many recent years in our Village elections.

I am a strong supporter of current efforts to move our Village elections from their legacy timing in March to a new annual cycle in November. People are used to voting in November, and our access to early voting during this annual cycle will make it easier for more people to participate in our Village elections. More people engaging and voting can only be a good thing, as we seek to harness the power of the entire village for the things that are important to all of us.

This question is being put to Bronxville voters in a proposition on the ballot at the November 4^th general election. I will be voting YES. I encourage my friends, colleagues and neighbors to reach out if they wish to discuss this proposition further, and its benefits for all in Bronxville.

Yours sincerely,

Vanessa O’Friel

Letter to the Community Regarding Timing of Local Elections

Sept. 3, 2025

Dear Editor,

On July 1^st, I submitted a petition signed by 457 of our friends and neighbors requiring that a proposition be put to Bronxville voters asking if we should change the timing of our annual Village elections from March to November. This process of petitioning to secure a proposition on the timing of our annual election is enshrined in New York State Law.

On July 21^st, the Village Board of Trustees acknowledged receipt and passed a resolution asking the Village Administrator to review and process the petition in compliance with law. Subsequently, and as required by the petition, the Village submitted to the Westchester County Board of Elections the text of the proposition that will appear on our ballots this November:

Should the date of the annual Bronxville Village Election be changed from the third Tuesday in March to the Tuesday next succeeding the first Monday in November each year? The responses that will be available to Bronxville voters are “yes” or “no”.

We’ll be hearing a lot more about this proposition – and why Bronxville residents should vote YES – over the next couple of months, but I wanted to explain why I submitted this petition and why the proposition is so important for our village. The first thing to say is that it wasn’t just me – many common-sense village residents were involved in organizing and witnessing signatures – and 457 eligible Bronxville voters signed it. We knew this request would be popular, but 457 signers exceeded even our expectations. To put this number in context, it’s approximately 10% of all registered voters in Bronxville. The signers are fully representative of Bronxville – long-time residents and relative newcomers; young, old, and somewhere in between; those who live in apartments, townhouses and single-family homes; local businesspeople, New York City commuters, and the retired; and, of course, Democrats, Republicans and independents.

Why is the desire to see the date of our Village elections move so popular? Put simply, it will make our Village elections more efficient by reducing the number of times we are asked to go to the polls each year. And it will increase participation in our Village elections, meaning more people have an active interest in how our Village operates and, as a result, our elected officials will have greater levels of public following and support.

All of us agree that Bronxville has such unique community spirit and a concentration of time, passion and expertise in our village, school, library, business district, and many other beloved clubs, societies and institutions. And yet, this focus has not applied nearly as much to our Village government. Since Covid, and with limited exceptions, only a few hundred voters have shown up for our Village elections held in March each year – even dipping as low as single digit turnout percentage. For our otherwise wonderful village, this isn’t good enough. Elections in March are inconvenient and often go unnoticed, and Bronxville is in a minority of Westchester villages still holding them on this cycle.

Moving our Village elections to November will drive greater community engagement, require candidates to seek broad support from across the village, and continue to raise the bar in Bronxville.

Sincerely,

David Wylie