Thanks to all NJ voters who voted yes on Question 4.

Earlier this year NJ Senate President Richard Cody proposed a change to the state Constitution. The section he wants changed was written in 1844 and pertains to eligibility to vote. The section currently reads “No idiot or insane person shall enjoy the right of suffrage.”. I am thrilled to say that enough people voted yes to get the measure passed. Results published on the nj.com website today reflect 740,158 people, or 60%, voted yes and 501,860 people voted no.

The actual wording of the question is as follows:
Shall the amendment of Article II, Section I, paragraph 6 of the Constitution, agreed to by the Legislature, revising the current constitutional language concerning denial of the right
to vote by deleting the phrase “idiot or insane person” and providing instead that a “person who has been adjudicated by a court of competent jurisdiction to lack the capacity to understand the act of voting” shall not enjoy the right of suffrage, be adopted?

The interpretive statement reads as follows:
Approval of this amendment concerning the denial of the right to vote would delete the phrase “idiot or insane person” and replace that phrase with “person who has been
adjudicated by a court of competent jurisdiction to lack the capacity to understand the act of voting” in describing those persons who shall be denied the right to vote. The phrase
“idiot or insane person” is outdated, vague, offensive to many, and may be subject to misinterpretation. This constitutional amendment acknowledges that individuals with
cognitive or emotional disabilities may otherwise be capable of making decisions in the voting booth and that their right of self-determination should be respected and protected in this regard. The amendment only denies the right of suffrage to those individuals determined by a court, on a case-by-case basis, to lack the capacity to understand the act of voting.

I am glad it passed. The wording as it stood was demeaning, insulting and insensitive, and did not allow for individual circumstances or varying degrees of disabilities. The wording does make a difference, a point I plan on covering in another post in the near future.

To all NJ voters who voted yes, and to Mr Codey, I send a big thank you for standing up for the rights of others. With one strong voice change can be brought about.

Category: Life