HOBOKEN – Mayor Dawn Zimmer wants to reduce the size of a district in her home 4th Ward so that voting is no longer an hour-long affair for some residents in southwest Hoboken.
Zimmer, along with Councilman David Mello, Keith Furman, and Sandra Reinardy, residents of the city’s 4-2 district, filed a lawsuit seeking to compel Hudson County to reduce the size of district 4-2 to comply with state law, according to a release from Zimmer.
The suit names the Hudson County Board of Elections, Hudson County County Superintendent of Elections, and the Clerk of Hudson County as defendants. The lawsuit was filed in the Chancery Division of New Jersey Superior Court.
“In 2008 and 2009, 4-2 residents were forced to wait in unacceptably long lines in order to exercise their right to vote,” Zimmer said in the release. “The law is clear, and we must comply with the law and fix the problem now before the Presidential election coming up in November.”
The state law restricts election districts to between 500 and 750 registered voters, according to the release, and 4-2 has nearly 2,500 registered voters.
Mello said on Wednesday night after the City Council meeting said that there have always been exceptionally long lines in the district that often extend out the door. He added that there is “already voter apathy, and the long lines exacerbate the problem.” Mello said that a possible solution would be to add more districts in the 4th Ward.
– Ray Smith