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For Immediate Release
May 2, 2006
Newark, N.J. -- The American Civil Liberties Union of New Jersey announced its Voter Protection hotline today for citizens who encounter difficulties exercising their right to vote in the Newark nonpartisan May election for mayor and city council. Anyone experiencing difficulty voting may call (973) 642-2084 between now and May 9 for help.
"Newark voters deserve to have a fair and open process for casting their votes," said Anne Barron, Director of the ACLU-NJ Voting Rights for All Project. "Ensuring fundamental fairness in the voting process is essential to our democracy."
The ACLU-NJ is implementing this hotline in response to calls from Newark citizens with complaints about problems attempting to register to vote or to voting in the past two elections. The hotline will be staffed with volunteers trained to assist with voters problems and lawyers will also be on call to help voters who want to challenge denials of their voting rights on the day of election.
The ACLU-NJ participated in election protection efforts in both the 2004 and 2005 general elections with a number of other state and national voting rights groups. Complaints ranged from a long-time voter whose name was missing from the poll book on Election Day 2004 to improper denials of voter registration to people with prior convictions. In addition, recently enacted changes in the absentee ballot and provisional ballot procedures may also cause confusion at the polls.
Organizers of previous election protection efforts collected and analyzed the complaints and submitted the results with recommendations for improvement to the New Jersey Office of the Attorney General. Numerous voting problems were documented, including incomplete voter rolls, denial of language assistance, lack of sufficient provisional and emergency ballots and machine problems. The ACLU-NJ will provide a similar report and recommendations for Essex County election officials based on an analysis of the calls that come in on the hotline during the local May 9 elections.
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