PUBLIC ADVOCATE’S ATTORNEYS HELP WIN THIRTY-TWO

VOTERS’ RIGHTS CASES ON ELECTION DAY

            TRENTON, NJ – Attorneys for the New Jersey Public Advocate argued in courts around the State on Election Day in support of citizens seeking the right to vote.  In 32 of those cases, the courts ordered election officials to allow the voters to cast ballots.  Courts denied relief in only two cases.

            “The results show that when citizens insist on participating in the democratic process, the New Jersey courts will stand behind them,” said Public Advocate Ronald K. Chen.

Thirteen staff attorneys with the Department were stationed in courthouses around the state, available to advocate for voters’ rights on Election Day and to monitor election problems.

            “We were pleased to see the judges’ favorable responses to the pleas of voters who were wrongly turned away from the polls,” said Chen.

            In Union County, Chen personally supported the cause of a Rahway resident who had moved from Hudson County to Union County in the spring of this year.  He had changed his address with the State Motor Vehicle Commission (MVC) shortly after his move.  By law, a change of address with MVC automatically counts as a change of address for voter registration unless the citizen explicitly declines to have the information forwarded to election officials.  As is often the case, however, the address change never made it into the election records.  Holding that the voter should not be penalized for the government’s failure to abide by its own laws, the court allowed him to cast his vote.

            Voters prevailed in all four cases handled by Assistant Public Advocate Jo Astrid Glading in the Somerset County Courthouse, including the matter of a resident of Bound Brook who became a citizen in April.  The applicant testified that shortly after being naturalized, she registered to vote by completing a voter registration form and handing it to a postal worker for mailing.  Although her name was not in the poll books at her voting site, Judge Anthony Picheca ordered that she be allowed to vote.  With only 20 minutes to spare before the polls closed, the court ordered an emergency absentee ballot, allowing the new citizen to cast a ballot in Tuesday’s election.

            Rick Friedman and Peter Thambidurai, both attorneys for the Public Advocate, prevailed in five cases in Bergen County.  In one, voter Paul Gneco of Upper Saddle River was denied a legally mandated chance to register to vote when he received his New Jersey’s driver license.  Because of the MVC’s error, and Gneco’s election-day trip to the courthouse in Hackensack, Judge Brian Martinotti allowed Gneco to cast his ballot.

Attorney Alexander Gladney was assigned to the Mercer County Courthouse in Trenton.  He helped Lawrence resident Gregory Johnson obtain an order to vote.  Johnson had been deleted from the rolls when election officials confused his name with a man who had lost voting eligibility after being convicted of a crime.  Although Johnson had a similar name as the convict, he had a different address and birthday.  Judge Darlene Pereksta granted the order to vote, and allowed Johnson to make additional inquiries after Election Day into the accuracy of Mercer County’s process for removing felons from the voter rolls.

Even the Department’s own lawyers were not immune from election-day gremlins.  Attorney Fenix Manning-Bowman found she was not in the poll books at her Cherry Hill polling place when she went to vote on Tuesday morning.  With the assistance of Judge Lee Solomon and a representative from the County Election office, however, Manning-Bowman was able to confirm her timely registration, and was allowed to vote.  After securing her own rights, Manning-Bowman remained on duty at the courthouse and helped others win the right to vote.

            Public Advocate attorneys were on duty in Bergen, Burlington, Camden, Hudson, Mercer, Middlesex, Monmouth, Morris, Somerset, and Union counties. 

In addition, a team headed by Catherine Weiss, the Department’s Director of Public Interest Advocacy, worked at the Public Advocate’s Trenton headquarters throughout Election Day, handling appellate work and general voter inquiries.  In an emergency appeal before Judge Ariel A. Rodriguez of the Appellate Division, the Public Advocate’s appellate team filed a brief and presented oral argument on behalf of a husband and wife, Farouk and Amber Sheikh, who had gone to court in Bergen County seeking the right to vote and been denied.  Mrs. Sheikh had previously been registered to vote in another county and had changed her address with the MVC.  The appellate judge ordered that, under the law, this change of address should “automatically [have] caused her to be registered to vote at her current address.”  The judge thus issued an order entitling her to vote.  Mr. Sheikh had only recently become a citizen and had not yet registered to vote, but he had renewed his driver’s license at MVC, and that agency had failed in its legal duty to offer him a voter registration opportunity.  The appellate judge affirmed the trial court decision holding that Mr. Sheikh could not vote because he was not registered, allowing the burden of the government’s default to fall on him.  To see the Public Advocate’s brief in the case, click here.

            Chen reminded all eligible voters that when they personally appear at an office of the Motor Vehicle Commission for a new or renewal driver’s license, MVC agents must hand them a form that gives them the ability to register to vote on the spot.  Under a 1995 federal law, voters also have similar on-the-spot voter registration rights at government offices providing public assistance, unemployment benefits, disability services, veterans’ aid, and other forms of assistance. 

            After reviewing the attorneys’ reports, Chen said he will determine what actions the Department will take, including whether to deploy lawyers to assist voters in the February 2008 presidential primary elections.