The City Council is scheduled to vote tomorrow on a bill to ban Sabbath elections for official and quasi-official posts. The bill, whose immediate aim is to stop the Saturday, April 22 elections for anti-poverty corporation officers favored by the city’s Council Against Poverty (CAP), is expected to pass. Before the councilmen vote they will be presented with a”message of necessity” from Mayor John V. Lindsay opposing Sabbath elections.
Councilman Theodore Silverman (D. Bklyn.), a drafter of the bill, lauded the interfaith solidarity behind the measure, The Council’s Committee on General Welfare voted 10-0 late last week in favor of Silverman’s bill. The only major opponent to testify was David J. Billings III, chairman of CAP. The Black official, who has been accused of making anti-Semitic remarks on the city-operated radio station WNYC, favors elections on April 22 instead of on the alternate date, Tuesday, April 18 on grounds that the Black community can register a larger voter turnout on a Saturday.
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