Sen. Claiborne Pell (D.R.I.), has been urged by a Hasidic organization and a Democratic candidate for the New York Mayoralty to withdraw his bill to change federal election day from Tuesday to Saturday.
The Hassidic Corporation for Urban Concerns announced its “vehement opposition” to the proposal. Rabbi S.B. Gorodetsky, chairman of the Hasidic group, said Saturday elections would disenfranchise millions of Jews and others who observe Saturday as their Sabbath. He said it would “clearly be in violation of religious rights and a step backward in achieving fullest participation in national elections,”
Rabbi Gorodetsky said the group had asked Sen. Pell to withdraw his bill for “the common good of all Americans who cherish their country and their faith.” The Hassidic Corporation is funded by the federal Office of Economic Opportunity.
Albert H. Blumenthal, a candidate for the Democratic Mayoral nomination said in a telegram to Sen. Pell that the bill, if passed, would be “an effective disenfranchisement of millions of Orthodox Jews and Seventh Day Adventists.” Blumenthal, who is Deputy Minority Leader in the State Assembly, asserted that “to deny millions of Americans their basic right to vote for the sake of others’ convenience, flies in the face of the best of our country’s tradition of religious freedom.”
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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.
