These New Jersey candidates for governor agree on one thing: The primary date should change to accommodate Shavuot
The competitors joined together to call for the primary date to change to accommodate the Jewish holiday.
A bipartisan group of candidates for the New Jersey governor’s seat resoundingly agree on one thing: The date for next year’s primary election should be changed.
New Jersey election law sets the primary on the first Tuesday following the first Monday in June, but the state legislature has the power to change the date. Next year, that day is June 3, which falls on the major Jewish holiday of Shavuot.
Shavuot next year begins at sundown on Sunday, June 1, and ends the night of Tuesday, June 3. The holiday celebrates the Ten Commandments, and some observant Jews study Jewish law all night on the first night as part of their observance.
Democratic U.S. Reps. Josh Gottheimer and Mikie Sherrill, former Democratic lawmaker Steve Sweeney, and Republican State Sen. Jon Bramnick, all candidates for governor, cosigned a letter Monday addressed to state Senate President Nicholas Scutari and Assembly Speaker Craig Coughlin, both Democrats, calling for the state legislature to reschedule the primary to a later date “immediately” to maximize ballot access in the state.
The coauthors are in a crowded race of nearly a dozen candidates running to replace Gov. Phil Murphy, who is term-limited.
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“We urge the New Jersey legislature to waste no time,” the letter reads. “... At a time when voters have more doubts than ever about the fairness of our elections, this is unquestionably the right thing to do.”
On Thursday, Murphy, Scutari, and Coughlin announced in a joint statement that they support moving the primary a week later, to June 10, “and will work together to accomplish that goal.” Some state lawmakers have also sponsored a bill to move the date.
The gubernatorial candidates’ letter followed a different letter signed by more than 60 rabbis and nonprofit leaders calling for the date to change, saying the date overlap would disenfranchise “a significant portion of our community,” Jewish Insider reported. Observant Jews are prohibited from driving, using electronics, writing, or traveling on Shavuot, the Jewish leaders said, putting voting out of the picture.
The letter from the gubernatorial candidates points to how Maryland passed a law changing their primary election date this year that coincided with Passover and Ramadan.
Efforts to change this year’s primary election date in Pennsylvania due to Passover were unsuccessful. While mail voting is available to all registered voters in Pennsylvania elections, some Jewish leaders still expressed concern over ballot access such as when delays in Montgomery County left a small window to vote for some Jews traveling for the holiday.
Voters can also cast their ballots by mail for any reason in New Jersey, but the candidates argued in their letter that the state should eliminate barriers to participation by also leaving the option to vote in person on Election Day.
“The legitimacy of our democratic electoral system rests on the broadest participation possible,” the candidates said in the letter. “It is untenable that any group should have to choose between their religious practices and their right to vote.”
Jack Ciattarelli, another Republican candidate, also wrote a letter to the legislative leaders, as well as to Murphy, calling to change the date to June 4. A spokesperson for Murphy said he is open to working with the legislative leaders on changing the date, Politico reported.
“I think we can all agree that practicing one’s religion should never force someone to be excluded or limited in any way from an opportunity to participate in our democracy,” Ciattarelli said in his independent letter.
Jersey City Mayor Steve Fulop, a Democrat, told Jewish Insider that the state should consider changing the election day anytime it falls on a major holiday for any group.