New Jersey is sending deputy attorney generals to oversee today’s election in the city, which includes a question that aims to change the city’s government from an at-large system to a wards-based system.
The deputy attorney generals will be at every polling location where University students typically vote on the New Brunswick/Piscataway campuses and in North Brunswick, said Middlesex County Board of Elections Administrator James Vokral.
“That’s typical because [for] every major election, we like to have the deputy attorney generals there to make sure that [things go] smoothly in all the polling locations,” Vokral said.
The deputy attorney generals will have a list of registered students, the name of their residence hall and the associated polling location; as long as students can identify the name of the residence hall where they live, they will be directed to the appropriate polling location, Vokral said.
“[Having the deputy attorney generals in student-populated districts is] essential to ensure that students who have the right to vote get their chance to cast their ballots,” said Sixth Ward District 4 Democratic Committeeman Mike Shanahan, who ran last June on the Democrats for Change ticket.
Vokral said a question was raised yesterday morning relating to the amount of identification required for bearers of absentee ballots, and that question was referred to the county clerks office.
Rutgers University Student Assembly Chair Werner Born said students are concerned about being required to show identification with their registration address on it but believes the problem has been resolved.
“Obviously, no one has Hardenbergh [Hall] written on their license,” Born said.
Shanahan, a Rutgers College senior, recommends that students bring a form of identification to the polls today.
If individuals did not provide identification when they registered to vote, they will be asked to show one when they go to vote, Vokral said. The identification could include a driver’s license or another document with a name and an address.
If an individual has a concern today, they should talk to a poll worker and then to a deputy attorney general for advice, Vokral said.
People can also call the Middlesex County Board of Elections at (732) 745-3471.
“It would be awful to see any kind of an issue where students can’t vote, especially in a major election like this where we’re electing the governor,” Born said. “If there [is] any kind of [concern], I really hope that students don’t hesitate to talk to whatever deputy officer might be there.”
Individuals also have the right to file a provisional ballot if they are initially rejected from voting.
Empower Our Neighborhoods, the city-based grassroots group leading the ward campaign, is sending challengers to polling locations to ensure that registered students are able to vote, Shanahan said.
“We have lawyers with credentials in many polling spots across the city, and we’ll have challengers within the booths to make sure that any student who wants to vote has that right and is able to cast their ballot,” he said.
City Spokesman Bill Bray could not be reached for comment at press time.
State officials to ward off voter issues in county
Published: Monday, November 2, 2009
Updated: Monday, November 2, 2009
2 comments
Rick
Kyle your an idiot, this has nothing to do with this article, find a related one and put your homo soap box there
kyle
I think the deputy attorney generals should be going after Democrates for commiting election fraud by paying for phone calls to people to vote for Daggett, when their real candidate is Corzine. This is the most flagrant abuse of power I have ever seen. The Democrates have admitted that they paid for these calls, which proves that Daggett was nothing but a spoiler all along. NJ has become nothing more than some rinky dink third world nation where fraud is rampant and voters really have no say. And now we are supposed to trust the attorney general to watch out for fraud!! Give me a break! I guess we can only hope that Christie gets in and goes to town on the corrupt politicians ruining this state!
