Electioneering In East Orange
11/04/14
Q. What is “electioneering”?
A. It is any activity or display of materials that is intended to
advocate, solicit or suggest support for a candidate, political
party or public referendum. N.J.S.A. 19:34-15
Q. What if there is electioneering activity going on in the
polling place?
A. The first line of defense is the district board which should
immediately restrain any such activity. N.J.S.A. 19:6-15.
Q. What if there is no member of the district board to
contact? What if no one at the polling place knows who is in
charge of handling "electioneering"? What if none of
the people at the polling place knows anything about
"electioneering"?
A. (chirp-chirp-chirp...crickets)
NJSA 19:34-6. Prohibited actions in polling place on election
day
a. If a person shall on election day tamper, deface or interfere
with any polling booth or obstruct the entrance to any polling
place, or obstruct or interfere with any voter, or loiter in or
near the polling place, or, with the purpose to obstruct or
interfere with any voter or to unduly delay other voters from
voting, spend an inordinate amount of time in the polling booth,
or do any electioneering within any polling
place or within one hundred feet thereof, he shall be guilty of a
crime of the third degree.
NJSA 19:34-15. Electioneering within or about polling place;
disorderly persons offense
If a person shall distribute or display any
circular or printed matter or offer any suggestion or solicit any
support for any candidate, party or public question within the
polling place or room or within a distance of one hundred feet of
the outside entrance to such polling place or room, he shall be
guilty of a disorderly persons offense.
To
[email protected]
To Christopher Durkin, county clerk - please forward
11/04/14 10:00AM - ongoing
There is electioneering going on just outside the entrance to the
St. Paul's A.M.E. Church polling place at 21 Old Sanford Street
in East Orange, NJ. I photographed three people passing out Line
A literature and attempting to influence arriving voters to vote
for their Line A candidates. I spoke to the people who were
Electioneering and asked them if they knew how far away from the
entrance they needed to be for that activity. They did not know
and would not take my word for it, so they are still there and
still electioneering in violation of NJSA 19:34-15. I reported
the electioneering activity to the poll workers inside the
polling place but none of them knew what to do about it, so
nothing was done.
James Gerrish
East Orange, NJ
Note: This is NOT the
first time I have encountered this in East Orange at this Polling
Place. Last November I reported the same
kind of thing happening on the
mayoral election.
Previous Electioneering in East
Orange - a Pattern of Behavior - 2013