A U.S. Army sergeant who missed the deadline to request an electronic ballot because he was returning from a deployment in Eastern Europe will be able to vote from his current location after Superior Court Judge Gary Wolinetz made it clear he wasn’t about to disenfranchise him.
The voter, whose name is being withheld by the New Jersey Globe, is a registered voter in Middlesex County. He told Wolinetz that an Army voting officer told him he could vote in Texas, where he has been stationed since November 2, but that turned out to be incorrect.
“In addition to serving the nation, he has made diligent efforts to comply with the standards to deal with electronic voting,” Wolinetz said. “There would be, frankly, no greater hardship than to deny this person who is serving our nation the ability to vote. It would disenfranchise him where he’s risking so much to protect the nation. This is a very easy call for me.”
The deadline for military voters to request electronic ballots was November 1. Wolinetz ordered Middlesex County Clerk Nancy Pinkin to allow him to vote electronically via email today.