State of New Jersey
Department Of The Public Advocate
240 West State St.
P.O. Box  851  
Trenton, NJ 08625-0851
Phone: (609) 826-5090    Fax: (609) 984-4747
JON S. CORZINE
Governor

For Immediate Release: 
November 2, 2007		 RONALD K. CHEN
Public Advocate

Contact: Kathy Bird
609-826-5054
609-417-0038(cell)




Public Advocate Announces Multi-pronged Initiative to Protect People's Voting Rights

TRENTON, NJ –New Jersey Public Advocate Ronald K. Chen today announced his department's plans to assist voters in Tuesday's general election, including the deployment of attorneys and staffing a hotline to field calls from voters experiencing problems.

 
Staff attorneys from the Department of the Public Advocate will monitor voting activity in counties throughout the state and will provide information to voters and assist them if requested.
 
In addition, voters with disabilities who encounter problems at the polls on Election Day will be able to obtain free help from the Public Advocate's hotline.  The hotline will educate voters about their rights and offer the department's assistance if they face any problems related to voting.  Voters needing help are urged to call (609) 826-5090.
 
Public Advocate Chen also reminded voters with disabilities of his recent informational letter aimed at educating people about their voting rights.  He encouraged voters to bring this letter to the polls with them.
 
Chen's letter has been distributed to individuals with disabilities, self-advocacy organizations, community-based groups that serve individuals with disabilities, and state-run programs for people with disabilities.
 
 
Chen also noted that there is a question on the Nov. 6 ballot that, if approved by a majority of the voters casting ballots on Public Question #4, would remove language from the state Constitution that many people find is archaic and offensive.
 
The language to be deleted says that an individual who is an "idiot or insane person" cannot vote.  Chen emphasized that passage of the constitutional amendment would not change the well-established, current legal status about who can and cannot vote.  Only a judge can deprive someone of the right to vote after holding a hearing and considering evidence about an individual's mental capacity to understand what voting is.
 
Chen's letter informing people about the constitutional amendment has been distributed widely through the disabilities community including at psychiatric hospitals and other institutions.
 
Earlier this year, the Public Advocate published two reports describing problems that people with disabilities historically have faced when visiting the polls.  Common problems range from polling sites located in inaccessible buidings to misinformed poll workers who improperly turn away voters from the polling place.
 
A recent Public Advocate report of spot inspections at 121 polling places in nine counties -- Bergen, Camden, Essex, Hudson, Mercer, Middlesex, Monmouth, Passaic and Union -- conducted on primary election day in June indicated that only 20 percent of the locations, or 24, were accessible, even through federal law that went into effect 15 years ago required unfettered access.  In some cases, doorways were too narrow for wheelchairs while in others, there were no ramps making it easy for handicapped people and the elderly to get into the buildings easily.
 
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