Efforts were underway today to induce Illinois state election officials to make special arrangements for Jewish voters to take part in the April 12 primary which falls on the first day of Passover. Many requests also have been made to the Board of Election Commissioners of Cook County to change the date of the primary.
Milton H. Miller, a candidate for a Democratic committee post in Chicago, said that since observant Jews were not permitted to cast ballots on a religious holiday, many Jewish citizens would in effect be disenfranchised and be deprived “of the right of suffrage. “
Mr. Miller, in letters to various officials, including Gov. William G. Stratton and Sidney T. Holzman, chairman of the Cook County Board of Election Commissioners, urged that a proclamation be issued “construing the election laws” in a manner permitting “citizens of the Jewish faith to ask for and receive assistance by the precinct election judges so that they may vote without violating their religious beliefs. “
Mr. Holzman said that the Illinois Constitution set the primary date since 1870 and that there was no way to alter it other than having the legislature pass an absentee ballot bill.
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The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
