Paraguayan Election On for Sunday at Bernardsville Train Station

The Bernardsville train station will be the scene of a historic election on Sunday, April 21. An empty area of the station will become a voting location for the nation of Paraguay, which for the first time is allowing its citizens living in the U.S. and some other countries to cast a vote for a new Paraguayan president.

The but first said that the consulate serving this area needed to get security arrangements, insurance and other paperwork in order with borough officials before the end of Wednesday's business day.

On Thursday morning, Bernardsville Borough Clerk Sandra Jones reported that all of the requirements were met on Wednesday.

Security arrangements are in place and all conditions have been met, Bernardsville Police Chief Kevin Valentine. He said expenses are being paid for by the Tribunal Superior de Justicia Electoral, the the organization with responsibility regarding the operation of this election. He declined to reveal other details of payments or security provisions.

Bernardsville resident Benigno Ruiz-Diaz, accompanied by some other local representatives for two of the major presidential candidates in Paraguay, attended Monday's Bernardsville Borough Council meeting with a request to use part of the train station in an election that would be conducted from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday. Ruiz-Diaz initially had filed that request earlier in April.

While the council was in closed session to discuss the proposal, Helen Britez of Bernardsville, who grew up in Basking Ridge said about 400 people from the area likely would be eligible to vote in Sunday's Paraguayan election.

She said those who can vote are Paraguayan citizens living in New Jersey who previously had registered to vote with a Paraguayan representative.

Attending Monday's meeting were Crispin Britez of Bernardsville, Helen's husband, who said that he is supporting the candidate for partido Liberal, Efrain Alegre, and Eduardo Villagra of New Vernon in Harding Township, who said he supports Horacio Cartes, candidate for the more conservative partido Colorado.

"We are going to make a difference for our country because this has never happened before," Villagra said of the new change in voting laws which he said will allow Paraguayan citizens living in the U.S., Argentina and Spain for the first time to cast their ballots outside of the Paraguay.

The plan is to hold the election in a section that was formerly occupied by a bank in the New Jersey Transit train station off Route 202, Helen Britez said.

She had told borough council members that holding the election in Bernardsville would mean much to Paraguayan residents living in the borough. Both Ruiz-Diaz and Crispin Britez said they had lived in Bernardsville for decades.

Bernardsville Police Chief Kevin Valentine had discussed security issues with the council, and had asked that all such arrangements be approved by him before final approval was given to go ahead with the vote.