New York State Supreme Court Judge Anthony DiGiovanna granted today a permanent injunction prohibiting the City of New York from conducting voter registration on Oct. 10, the Jewish holy day of Succoth, unless an additional day is provided for the observant Jewish community.
The action was brought to the court on Aug. 17 by Assemblyman Leonard Silverman and co-attorney Herbert Feinsod on behalf of Mordechai Rosen, a member of the Association of Jewish Anti-Poverty Workers, at the initiation of S. Elly Rosen, the association’s executive director.
DiGiovanna’s decision gives the city a choice of either adding one day to the presently scheduled three-day registration calendar or moving the presently scheduled days of Oct. 9 and 10 to the previous week of Oct. 1. The latter choice would permit the city to maintain a three-day schedule thereby avoiding the costs of an additional day.
ELECTION BOARD ADMONISHED
DiGiovanna admonished the Board of Elections, saying that they failed in their duty to exercise the discretion required for the observant Jewish community of New York City which will be unable to register on Oct. 10.
The registration day set for Saturday, Oct. 13 was deemed constitutional in the decision. “We hope to change that through legislation in the next year’s session, Silverman stated. Elly Rosen said that “based on this decision we’re going after the other 51 state counties which have registration schedules conflicting with Succoth and Yom Kippur.”
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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.
