If someone took something from you, what would you do once you got it back? Jewish voters in New Jersey weren’t supposed to be able to all vote in the June 10 New Jersey gubernatorial primary and now they are. Will every one of us show up with excitement and passion for a religious accommodation that was fought for, voted on, and executed to make sure every Jewish voter can vote?
Seven months ago, I called New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy to discuss an injustice taking place in New Jersey. Murphy was startled to learn that the 2025 New Jersey gubernatorial primary was scheduled for Shavuot on June 3. Murphy had no personal stake in any of this as he is term-limited and not up for election. When I explained to him that many Jewish voters would simply not be able to vote due to the holiday’s restrictions, he was insistent that the date be changed. What took place afterwards was a series of back-and-forth conversations with political leaders throughout the state. The argument in favor of moving the date, which was supported by nearly every candidate, was simple: There were no costs accrued yet to the state, logistically it wouldn’t impact the election, and it set an important precedent to remove obstacles to voting in any form for any voter. In a “let them eat cake” moment, some argued that the date didn’t need to be changed as Jewish voters could simply vote early or by mail despite knowing that more than 50% of voters in New Jersey had just voted in-person on Election Day for the presidential race. Murphy and other political leaders didn’t accept this disenfranchisement of tens of thousands of voters and instead pushed forward and changed the law. June 10 is now the election day for a race that will help decide who our next governor is, not to mention critical assembly races which impact our taxes, safety, and education.
Most New Jerseyans don’t even know there is a primary, let alone which day it was initially arbitrarily chosen. An April Rutgers-Eagerton poll said that a third of voters thought the primary was in November, a clear indicator that most people simply aren’t paying attention to this critical election. This tracks closely with a famous Johns Hopkins survey that stated that one-third of Americans can’t name their governor and 80% can’t name their state legislator. The Jewish community can’t afford this level of indifference.
It may surprise Jewish voters to realize that their state and local government has a bigger impact on their day-to-day lives than the president of the United States. Taxes which impact your mortgage, grocery bill, and the price of gas are felt by all New Jerseyans, but Jewish voters are feeling other concerns that can be uniquely resolved at the state ballot. How antisemitism is prosecuted and defined is literally debated and decided in Trenton. How protesters who flout the law are given the latitude or limit to is decided in Trenton. How religious freedom laws like whether an election date is or isn’t moved to ensure all voters can vote, is decided in Trenton.
In such an environment, how can we not vote at record numbers this election? Especially when you consider the expected vote total, which makes every vote even more meaningful. In the last two gubernatorial primaries voter turnout totaled less than 800,000. This is startling. New Jersey has over 6 million registered voters. In this environment of low turnout it is important to keep in mind that the Jewish community alone has over 600,000 members in New Jersey.
The visible voice votes and the invisible voice doesn’t. The Jewish community wasn’t supposed to be voting on June 10 and yet now we are again given an opportunity to raise our voices and make an impact at the polls. Let’s each commit to making sure we are registered to vote, making sure our friends and family have June 10 circled on the calendar, and making sure we turn out in record numbers with excitement and energy over a civic right that is regained and too important to not show up for.
Maury Litwack is the founder and CEO of Jewish Voters Unite, a new national initiative to turn out the Jewish vote with Get Out the Vote Centers in New Jersey and New York City.
