Dear Editor:
One of the reasons people praise our democracy is because we have the right to vote in a private booth where no one has to know which way we voted.
Absentee voting totally eliminates this assurance of a secret vote, leaving the process open to all kinds of anti-democratic corruption. Whether it’s people being pressured by entities having influence over their lives(job-wise or housing-wise), to absentee-vote a certain way or face repercussions; or people accepting money to vote a certain way—the non-secrecy of an absentee vote provides the proof that the voter is voting the desired way of the vote-buyer or pressuring entity. They see the vote on the non-secret paper ballot and then it is placed in the envelope and sent in.
This corruption, illegal yet nearly impossible to prove, wins elections, disrespects democracy, and needs to be federally investigated.
Please pressure your legislators to abolish New Jersey’s policy that allows everyone to absentee vote and replace it with allowance only for the ill, disabled, or out-of-town.
Please sign the online petition at http://www.change.org/petitions/new-jersey-governor-and-legislator-limit-absentee-voting-rights-to-stop-vote-buying?
J. Horwitz