A woman who moved from Ocean to Atlantic County but didn’t change her voter registration to her new address will be permitted to vote only in the presidential election.
Superior Court Judge J. Christopher Gibson invoked an obscure statute —the Presidential Ballot Law of 1964 — law that allows some voters who were formerly registered to vote in another county – to avoid disenfranchisement of that voter, at least in a presidential election.
The voter changed her registration on October 17 – two days after the deadline. She told Gibson she moved on July 8.
Deputy Attorney General Levi Klinger-Christiansen did not object to the voter casting a ballot only in the presidential election.
It’s unclear why some voters disenfranchised by voters by judges already this year were not given the same option.
Joseph Giralo, the Atlantic County Clerk, and Superintendent of Elections Maureen Bugdon, came up with the old law, which has not come up in any court hearing so far this year, as a way of allowing the woman to vote in the race for president.
Both political parties participated in the hearing and neither objected.
“We don’t want to see any eligible voter get turned away,” said Elliot Almanza, an attorney representing the Atlantic County Democratic organization.