Judge says woman can vote after she mistakenly changed her address with motor vehicles

A Bridgewater woman whose voter registration was inadvertently moved back to her parent’s home in Bergen County after she checked the wrong box on the Motor Vehicle Commission website will be permitted to vote today in Somerset County after Superior Court Judge Jonathan Romankow found that it would be unfair to disenfranchise her.

The woman, Julia E., testified that she had lost her driver’s license, and when she went on the MVC website to get a replacement, she checked a box asking that her voter registration be updated at the same time.    She said she has been renting in Somerset and voted there last year, but keeps the Bergen address on her license.

Deputy Attorney General Gary Baldwin, representing the state, opposed allowing Julia E. to vote.

“Are you not being hyper-technical in opposing this?” Romankow asked Baldwin.

“The legislature enacted this 21-day deadline for a reason, and there’s no other rule or statute which gives flexibility to that,” Baldwin said.

An attorney representing the Somerset County Democratic organization, John McAusland, spoke in favor of permitting Julia E. to vote today.

“She was registered down here,” McAusland stated.  “This is really just the bureaucracy of the system overriding her actual registration here locally.”

Romankow agreed.

“(If) this voter is not permitted to vote,  think that would result in her being disenfranchised without a remedy,” the judge said.  “ I think it’s in the interest of justice to allow (Julia E.)  to vote today, so I’m going to permit her to vote in person on the voting machine.”

The New Jersey Globe does not identify voters who appear before judges to protect their right to vote in order to protect their privacy.

Superior Court judges will hear same-day challenges for issues involving early voting and on Election Day.  Voters turned away from the polls but believe they are correctly registered should arrange to appear before a judge virtually or by telephone.  Click HERE for more information.

Voters can also call the Voter Protection Hotline at 866-OUR-VOTE (866-687-8683) for help from the American Civil Liberties Union and the New Jersey Institute for Social Justice hotline or the New Jersey Republican State Committee Election Integrity hotline at 609-288-2925.

Attorney General Matt Platkin has a Voting Rights Resources page to answer questions about your rights under state law.  Click HERE.