Abill allowing the dates for key referendums to be changed if they coincide with a religious holiday was signed by Gov. Jon Corzine on Jan. 13.
Sen. Barbara Buono, (D-Middlesex), one of the authors of the Senate bill along with Sen. Sean Kean, praised the bill’s passage into law, saying that it will safeguard residents’ ability to participate in civic life without having to compromise on their religious practices.
“Barriers must not be erected for people trying to exercise their right to vote,” Buono said in an e-mail. “This law will make sure that a citizen’s right to participate in the civic process is not being compromised due to circumstances out of their control.”
The bill, A-3186 in the Assembly and S- 2199 in the Senate, had been crafted in August last year as a response to a controversial referendum proposed by the Edison Township Board of Education, which decided to hold the vote on a $57 million bond proposal on Sept. 30, which happened to be the Jewish holiday of Rosh Hashana. The move sparked widespread protest from the Jewish community, as well as other local faith organizations, due to the fact that Jewish residents would not be able to vote on the matter that day. Jewish leaders compared it to holding a vote on Christmas.
The board at first said the vote had to take place on Sept. 30 because moving the referendum to the next available date, Dec. 9, would have presented an unacceptable delay. Eventually, however, under pressure, the board relented and agreed to hold the vote in December, whereupon the referendum was rejected by voters.
Until the bill’s passage, the state was unable to change the date of special school district elections to a date other than the last Tuesday in September, the second Tuesday in December, the second Tuesday in March or the fourth Tuesday in January, even if any of those dates coincided with a religious holiday.
The legislation that created the April school district elections has such a provision, to avoid conflict with the Jewish holiday of Passover, but the bill passed in 2001 that allows special district elections did not have such a provision. The new bill, now law, will have the state education commissioner review on an annual basis the four dates set in the statute to check for conflicts with religious holidays.
Rabbi Dr. Bernhard Rosenberg, of Edison, who led efforts in convincing the board to change the referendum date, said he was happy that the legislation passed.
“Obviously I am satisfied with the passage of the bill, and hope it will alleviate future religious conflicts regarding voting on issues. However, it would have been appropriate for those sponsoring this legislation to have those involved in this issue [such as himself] present at the signing,” Rosenberg said in an e-mail.