A Union County woman who became a U.S. citizen in June and registered to vote in September will be allowed to vote for the first time after Superior Court Judge John Deitch found that her voter registration form was mailed correctly even though county election officials never received it.
The woman told Deitch that she had taken her voter registration form to the Elizabeth Post Office on September 15 – one month before the deadline – and that a postal clerk told her to drop it “in a blue box.”
“In certain select cases, exceptions may be made,” Deitch said. “Those exceptions include situations where the voter has attempted to register, and through no fault of the voter, that registration has not been recorded.”
He said he believed the woman’s account of her voter registration and that she “attempted to timely submit her voter registration form.
“She took the paperwork provided to her by the government to her to a post office and followed their instructions with regard to mail and documents. She was instructed to put the mailing in a blue box at the post office; the court takes judicial notice that U.S. mailboxes are blue.”
In a separate case, a Monmouth County woman told Superior Court Judge Linda Grasso Jones that, after voting from her Eatontown address for a decade, she was informed by her local election officials this year that they had her listed as living in Ocean County instead. Grasso Jones determined that the problem was likely due to a Motor Vehicles Commission glitch, and ruled that the woman should be permitted to vote from Eatontown.
The judge expressed her appreciation that the voter had chosen to take the matter to court rather than allowing herself to be disenfranchised.
“To me, what this says is how important it is that we have this process – that [the voter] wasn’t like, ‘Well, I guess I can’t vote, there’s a problem,’” Grasso Jones said. “I appreciate, ma’am, that you went to the trouble to come over to the Board of Elections and to appear for this proceeding – because it would have been a whole lot easier to say, ‘I’m too busy, I don’t have time for this.’”
The decisions accentuate the need for voters to advocate for their right to vote
Earlier today, Superior Court Judge Wendy Reek rejected the bid of a U.S. Army veteran who moved to New Jersey to attend medical school to vote because he hadn’t registered in time. Reek, like other judges over the last few days, expressed disappointment that she couldn’t allow him to vote. And Superior Court Judge Craig Wellerson had to tell two young potential voters in Ocean County that there was nothing he could do because they never registered to vote.
Henal Patel, the law and policy director at the New Jersey Institute for Social Justice, believes same-day voter registration would stop the disenfranchisement of voters.
“Why are we turning away eligible voters? Year after year, New Jersey disenfranchises voters because of our arbitrary 21-day registration deadline,” Patel said. “It’s shameful and unnecessary. It is long past time for us to join the over 20 states that have same-day voter registration.”
The New Jersey Globe is withholding the names of voters involved in registration challenges.
If you are not allowed to vote or feel incorrectly pushed to vote on a provisional ballot when you’re entitled to vote on the machine, you can present your case to a Superior Court Judge to determine your eligibility to vote. Judges will be on call for each of the nine days of early voting; hearings are done remotely, and you can attend a hearing via Zoom from your phone at a polling location.
Voters should not readily accept being turned away. Ask to speak to the person in charge, known as the Super Poll Worker, the individual who is most fluent in ways that can help you vote.
If you intend to appear before an election judge, you may call the ACLU Voter Hotline at 866-OUR-VOTE (866-687-8683) or contact your county election officials. Click HERE for a list.