PUBLIC ADVOCATE FILES BRIEF IN VOTING RIGHTS APPEAL

TRENTON, January 23, 2008 -- Public Advocate Ronald K. Chen today filed a brief in a case before a state appeals court that challenges a directive by the State Attorney General that limits the ability of nonpartisan groups to assist voters at the polls on Election Day.

The directive bans free speech and the distribution of printed information within 100 feet of the entrance to polling places on Election Day.  The only exception is for exit polling, which is permitted so long as pollsters register with election officials at least two weeks before the election. 

By imposing substantial regulations on voting rights work, the directive is creating a risk that citizens will be deprived of this valuable assistance.  “At a minimum, proposals to regulate this kind of civil rights work require the kind of thorough vetting that only the formal rulemaking process can provide, but which was missing here,” the brief states.

The brief argues that the directive should have been considered through the regular rulemaking process.  Instead, the Attorney General’s Office issued the directive without formal notice and comment, without input from the Legislature or the press, and without widespread publication of either the proposed or final draft.  Formal rulemaking was necessary, the brief argues, because the directive affects a large segment of the public and goes beyond existing laws and regulations.

Read the Public Advocate’s Brief

The Appellate Division of Superior Court granted the Public Advocate’s request to participate in the case as an amicus curiae or “friend of the court.”  An appeals panel heard oral arguments yesterday on a voting rights group’s request for an injunction to prevent the implementation of the directive in the February 5, 2008, presidential primary in New Jersey.

In a letter dated December 28, 2006, before the issuance of the Attorney General’s directive, Chen urged the Attorney General to allow election-protection activity and exit polling “outside of the polling place or room, but within 100 feet from its entrance.”  Chen stated that existing state law does not prohibit exit polling or election-protection work conducted outside the “polling place or room,” unless there is voter intimidation, coercion, threats, obstruction, or electioneering.  He added that excluding voting rights groups from the area near the polls has the potential to “harm voters who . . . are greatly benefited by vigilant election-protection activities.”

Read the Public Advocate’s letter about election protection and exit polling

With the 2008 presidential election in full swing and the state's February primary election just two weeks away, protecting voters' rights has been a high priority for Chen. His office has focused on a wide variety of other voter advocacy activities, including the rights of voters with disabilities to vote privately and independently at their polling places and reviewing the process used to select electronic voting machines in New Jersey.  Chen has pledged to continue to research and monitor the election process to ensure that all eligible voters can register to vote and cast ballots.

The case’s caption is In Re Attorney General’s “Directive on exit polling: Media and non-partisan public interest groups” issued July 18, 2007.  The docket number is A-543-07T1.

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