I went to Dunkin’ Donuts to meet some voters, curious about my write-in campaign for Wyckoff’s Township Committee. They asked a reasonable question: Why don’t I run “as an independent,” which might get some voters in this right-leaning town who’d never vote for a Democrat? Answer: Because I’m a Democrat. As a write-in candidate, I’m not on the Democrats’ ballot line, but I’m a registered Democrat and have canvassed with the Wyckoff Democratic Club. Saying “vote for me, as an independent” is what I’d call bullshit.
For context, I point out I was a Republican for over 30 years, then non-affiliated, before becoming a Democrat. I’m a centrist, not a progressive or leftist. I’m against what the right has become in the Trump years. If you’ve been part of that, it’s not too late to bail. It’s also the case that, as a write-in candidate who launched his campaign without asking anyone’s blessing or support beforehand, I’m operating in a more-independent way than a standard candidate of any party, typically vetted and chosen by party functionaries.
My biggest challenge, though, isn’t that people will vote against me for some partisan or ideological reason. It’s that many won’t vote for me because they’ve no idea who I am or that I’m running. Writing someone’s name on a ballot, or typing it onto a voting-machine screen, requires knowing it’s an option and keeping the name in mind or, preferably, written down somewhere. My opponents aren’t just the three Republican incumbents running with no printed opponents, but unawareness, forgetfulness, and entropy.
My platform emphasizes energy, infrastructure, technology and communication, things I’m well-suited to focus on from my background as a science journalist. I point out, for instance, that electric-vehicle chargers at Town Hall would enable EV drivers to charge their vehicles for a metered fee while patronizing stores and restaurants in Wyckoff’s Business District. Someone expressed a worry this could encourage “riffraff” to come to town to scope out burglaries. This is unlikely, not least because the EV drivers—an affluent demographic—would be parking and charging their cars right next to the police station.
Communication skills, developed over decades as a journalist, will be an important addition to the Township Committee. Wyckoff News, a web publication, published a guest op-ed by me; underneath it, the editor added a disclosure that the same offer to publish an op-ed was made to my three opponents, none of whom had accepted the repeated offer or even replied to it by the time my piece was published. A pernicious effect of not having an opponent on the ballot is that politicians feel no need to make a case for themselves. Wyckoff News also noted my candidacy in its voters’ guide.
A Facebook group called Wyckoff Moms generally avoids political posts, but accepts a one-page statement from each local candidate during election season. The group refers to this as a “press release,” though it’s intended to go straight to the public and doesn’t need the conventions of materials released to the media, such as instructions for when the info can be used. Still, I wrote mine in press-release style, quoting myself:
“It’s a travesty that a handful of insiders keep getting elected in Wyckoff without any opponent even showing up on the ballot,” says Silber. “Whatever party you’re in, you should be unhappy at not having alternatives, year after year. There’s no reason officials should listen to you, the voter, if they have no concern about ever being voted out of office.”
Suburban News, a weekly newspaper covering Wyckoff and nearby towns, and part of the USA Today Network, once had a robust letter section but now, despite a regular request for letters, rarely publishes any. I mailed a letter about my candidacy in early October, and on getting no reply or publication, emailed an updated version in hopes it’ll show up in the newspaper’s last edition before Election Day. If not, and there’s no other mention of my candidacy, I’d question the newspaper’s dedication to keeping its readers informed.