Afternoon Election News

Congressman Steve Rothman has accepted an invitation from Senator Barack Obama to be with him at the election night event in Chicago tomorrow evening.  Rothman was the first Member of Congress in the 8 northeastern states to endorse Obama and has served as Northeast Regional Chair of the campaign since July of 2007.

I was very troubled to read today, in the Asbury Park Press, that some number of voters ? possibly thousands -- whose registrations met the October 14 voter registration deadline were not included in the official election rolls in your county, and that instead of distributing to your poll workers supplemental poll books including the names of those voters you will be requiring those duly-registered voters to cast provisional ballots.  This places those voters, unnecessarily and unjustly, at a greater risk of not having their votes counted in this historic election.

I am writing to strongly request that you distribute supplemental poll books to your poll workers so that they will have every opportunity and ability to confirm that all voters in this election who registered before the deadline are in fact duly registered, and therefore entitled to cast a regular ballot.  In addition, I strongly request that, to the extent that any voters may still be required to cast a provisional ballot, that you take all necessary steps to ensure that the provisional ballots of all voters who registered by the October 14 deadline are counted, whether you timely entered their names into the rolls or not.