Election officials in the District of Columbia have been criticized for scheduling a special election on Passover, a Jewish holiday that requires observers to avoid writing or using electronic devices, such as voting machines.

 

The problem became apparent a few weeks before the April 26 balloting for candidates running for city council and the education board. That’s when Rabbi Shmuel Herzfeld of Ohev Shalom, the National Synagogue, reached out to the D.C. elections board and asked them to extend voting until 10 pm, because Passover did not officially end until sundown, or 8:40 pm.

 

Officials rejected Herzfeld’s request.

 

“Not only did the board deny my request, it reacted insensitively,” Herzfeld wrote in an opinion piece published by The Washington Post. “The board’s counsel said, ‘How were we supposed to know it’s Passover?’ They said our explanation for why we couldn’t vote that day was an ‘excuse’ comparable to someone being on vacation.”

 

Officials also said they were bound by law to hold the election on April 26 and that if the law had forced them to conduct balloting on Christmas Day, they would have done so.

 

Herzfeld then filed suit in court, seeking an injunction to force the board to extend the voting time. But U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan, while offering sympathy to the Jewish community for their dilemma, denied the request. He did, though, encourage the Board of Elections and Ethics to offer early voting on April 24, Easter Sunday, when Christians were celebrating a major religious holiday. The board did relent and allow Jews to vote early on Easter.

-Noel Brinkerhoff

 

D.C.’S Insensitive Decision to Hold an Election on a Religious Holiday (by Shmuel Herzfeld, Washington Post)

Rabbi’s Lawsuit to Extend D.C. Special Election is Denied (by Mike DeBonis, Washington Post)