Judge refuses to disenfranchise voter who switched parties after mistake at MVC

A Roselle man who went to the New Jersey Motor Vehicle Commission office to get a Real ID as a Democrat on April 17 and wound up leaving as an unaffiliated voter will get to cast his ballot in the Democratic primary after Superior Court Judge John Deitch signed an order allowing him to vote.

This was the fourth time this week that a voter was forced to appear before a judge to avoid being disenfranchised as a result of an interaction with the MVC, also commonly referred to as the DMV.

The man, whose name is being withheld by the New Jersey Globe to protect his privacy, acknowledged that he accidentally changed his voter affiliation by checking off the wrong box on a keypad at the MVC counter on April 17, one day after the deadline to switch parties.

“I was in DMV for several hours in line, going around and around and around, and I rushed through it. I’ve been voting Democrat my whole life, and I wanted to get out of there. There was this person coughing.  I did not look at it properly. So that was on me,” the voter told Deitch.  “It’s partly my fault — you mark off, ‘do you want be an organ donor?’ and I rushed through it, I really did … But I would like to be able to vote in this coming election.”

Deitch said he found the man’s testimony to be “entirely credible” and accepted his explanation.

“This change in registration is just a mistake. Simple as that. At DMV for a long time, wanted to get out of there for reasons that I well understood., and checked off the wrong box. Maybe not paying attention, what have you,” Deitch stated.  “This wasn’t an attempt to deceive, to change party affiliations, to affect the election. He says he’s been a lifelong Democrat.”

So far, judges have been split on bids by voters to advocate against their own disenfranchisement in nearly identical situations: Deitch and Robert Ballard, Jr. decided to permit votes, while Wendy Allyson Reek and Robert Gardner have refused.

The MVC has taken no steps to correct the issue since early voting began on Monday, the New Jersey Globe has learned.

Deitch turned down a bid by a Rahway woman to change her party affiliation from Democrat to Republican after she missed the party switch deadline.  The woman said, based on Internet research, that she had more time.

The voter said she had been a longtime Democrat but said she prefers a Republican candidate for governor this year.

As a result of any attempt to change parties after the April 16 deadline, the woman is now ineligible to vote at all – even after asking to be permitted to vote in the Democratic primary instead.

Deputy Attorney General Brian Ragunan argued that because she had attempted to change parties after the deadline, she needed to sit out the 2025 primary entirely.