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Does New Jersey State Law Discriminate Against Idiots?

By Brian | October 26, 2007 | Share on Facebook

Public Question #4, Union County, New Jersey, 22nd Legislative District:

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?

And here’s the Interpretive Statement that follows it:

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 The phrase “idiot or insane person” is outdated, vague, offensive to many, and may be subject to misinterpretation.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.

No word, of course, on what legal body, if any, would declare a person an “idiot or insane person” under the old law…

As Dave Barry likes to say, I am not making this up…

Topics: Political Rantings, The World Wide Weird | No Comments »

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