P’ville Resident Suspends Drive to Move Elections; Presses Trustees for Vote

A Pleasantville resident who has sought to move the village’s elections from March to November has suspended her efforts and is urging the Village Board to approve a resolution putting the issue on the ballot.

Former board candidate Francesca Hagadus said last week she stopped her petition drive because many residents are away on summer vacation. The deadline to submit the petition to the Westchester County Board of Elections was Monday.

“It’s hard to get the required amount of signatures this time of year so we just stopped,” Hagadus explained. “I am appealing to the Village Board to consider putting a referendum on this November’s ballot.”

There is no Pleasantville village election in 2025 because all seats carry three-year terms on the five-member board. The next village election is currently scheduled for March 2026 when the seats now held by Trustees Paul Alvarez and Nicole Asquith are up for re-election. Last year, Mayor Peter Scherer was re-elected for a sixth term, Trustee David Vinjamuri won a third term and Yemi Healy was victorious in her first try for the board.

If the elections were to be moved, the next election would be in November 2026, extending the terms of Alvarez and Asquith by seven months.

Despite no Pleasantville election next year, Hagdus urged the board to move forward.

“I feel it’s a much better image to do this now, to put a referendum on the ballot before we need to,” Hagadus said.

One of the key reasons for Hagadus seeking the change has been the alarmingly low voter turnout. When she ran unsuccessfully for the board last March, only 641 residents out of 5,021 registered Pleasantville voters cast ballots. Hagadus lost by 56 votes.

Scherer has strongly opposed moving the village elections to November claiming it would jeopardize the nonpartisan, independent platforms candidates have historically run on. Instead, residents might vote a straight party line without regard to down-ballot candidates.

“I simply don’t agree with you,” Scherer told Hagadus. “I’ve yet to find anyone in other communities that support rolling all this stuff together in a November election to improve the focus on village issues.”

Hagadus said a November village election would maintain Pleasantville’s non-partisan tradition.

“I very much appreciate the fact that elections here are non-partisan because we get to engage everybody in the community,” she said. “A November election would involve the League of Women voters who can hold debates, and voters would get to know and engage with the candidates. They would vote for the person that better represents the issues.”

Former longtime village trustee Jonathan Cunningham said the decision to change village elections should be left to voters.

“I would argue that there’s a certain level of voter suppression that happens with a March election,” Cunningham said. “That Pleasantville voters want to have March elections because it’s more convenient is understandable, but having about 600 people vote from 5,000 registered voters isn’t healthy either. You make a case as strongly as you can and you leave it to the voters. That’s the way it works.”

For Asquith, November elections wouldn’t necessarily increase civic engagement.

“I’m personally skeptical that it would mean a larger voter turnout, but that doesn’t mean they are following what’s happening in a village election,” Asquith said. “In an election like the upcoming November presidential election, voters would be less focused on local issues.”

Healy supported a stronger village effort to communicate with residents prior to the March local elections.

Joining Hagadus at the July 22 meeting were a few village residents, including Nancy King.

“What I’m getting from you guys is you think you know better, that you’re the authorities and you know what’s best,” King said. “But I think you need to leave it up to the voters.”

King told of her conversations with friends, neighbors and co-workers about holding November elections.

“All of them said it’s a no-brainer and that they would love to have elections in November. These were Republicans and Democrats who all agreed.”

By the end of the 40-minute discussion, Scherer agreed that the issue should involve a broader group of residents.

“I am a million percent willing to convene some public conversations about this,” Scherer said. “We can have a work session totally devoted to it. I totally agree that increasing turnout is a good thing.”

Scherer suggested that perhaps a public forum on PCTV could be arranged.

“There are legitimate arguments on both sides,” he said. “Let’s take a little time to explore that and see where we land. It will ultimately be a matter that gets lots of feedback and ultimately, perhaps, a referendum on it.”

Last week, the state Supreme Court ruled in favor of holding a referendum to change Pelham Manor elections from March to November. An 801-signature petition was filed with the Pelham Manor village clerk by the Committee to Move the Manor Village Election. When the village clerk rejected the petition, the Pelham Democratic Committee successfully sued the village’s decision. The court ordered the Westchester Board of Elections to put the proposition on the Nov. 5 general election ballot.

Last March Sleepy Hollow residents approved moving vil­lage elec­tions from March to No­vem­ber by about a 3-to-1 mar­gin. In 2022, Hastings-on-Hudson put up a similar proposition before voters that garnered 88 percent support.