As most of you know my father suffers from macular degeneration - it's a genetic medical condition that slowly takes your vision as you age. As a result, he has trouble seeing and for years has asked my mother to accompany him into the voting booth to read him the questions, candidates and help him to cast his vote.
This morning at the polling place, my mother was stopped from entering the voting booth with my father by a woman who identified herself as a lawyer. This woman stated that my mother could not accompany my father into the voting both and said that she, as a lawyer, would have to accompany him. The woman went into the booth with my father, read him the questions and cast his vote for him. My father, unable to see, was forced to take this poll worker at her word that she cast his vote appropriately.
This did not sit well with my parents who called the board of elections immediately upon returning home. Five minutes of internet research proves that what this woman did was illegal - take a look at this letter from the New Jersey Department of the Public Advocate, which clearly states,
A voter with a disability may have a person of his or her choosing assist them in the voting booth... if a voter asks for help in the voting booth from staff at the polling place, the poll workers may assign one person from each political party to help them... It is the voter's choice if they want help in the voting booth.
I want to give this poll worker the benefit of the doubt - that she cast my father's vote the way he wanted it to be cast but regardless, in refusing my mother admittance to the voting booth with my father, against his wishes, then entering the booth to cast his vote with no oversight, she broke the law.
Developing...
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