Vote to remove offensive description of voters with disabilities
Anita Clavering Guest Column
After months of legislation introduced and passed by the state Senate and Assembly and testimonies given by advocates, many with disabilities, an amendment to remove offensive language including words such as "idiot" and "insane" from the state constitution is now a public-ballot question to be voted on by the public in the general election on Tuesday, Nov. 6. The ballot question is probably the first that people with disabilities helped create.

The following is a story that tells how advocates, both individually and in groups, worked together with legislators in helping to pass this important legislation while evolving it into a public question.

The process began when facilitators from the Monday Morning project of the New Jersey Council on Developmental Disabilities got together last year. We were given sheets that contained the statement "No idiot or insane person shall enjoy the right of suffrage," which we found not only to be archaic and offensive to voters with disabilities but which is still in the state constitution under Section 2- No. 6 after more than 150 years.

On Jan. 8 Senate President Richard Codey (D-27) introduced two bills, Senate Bill (S)-2476 and Senate Concurrent Resolution (SCR)-134, replacing the offending words with "a person adjudicated by a court of competent jurisdiction to lack the capacity to understand the act of voting," which reflects the dignity and strength of voters with disabilities, with the exception of people with severe disabilities who are determined unable to vote by a court.

The introduction of the bills by Codey was even a punch line for a "Weekend Update" segment on "Saturday Night Live," though the premise is strictly serious.

Hearings were held on Jan. 29 and Feb. 8 at which advocates and representatives from groups and organizations for and by people with disabilities testified to the Senate State Government Committee, urging it to support S-2476 and SCR-134. The most profound testimony came from Diane Jones of The Arc of New Jersey who stated, "I am here to tell you that I do not like the word 'idiot' on the thing. I want it to be cut out of the New Jersey Constitution. I want everybody to be free and happy and to be just who they are. I believe that we should be able to vote.

"People with disabilities have the right to vote because they are the people who shall be able to do what they believe is right," Jones continued. "I know they can do it because they have the power."

Assemblywoman Loretta Weinberg (D- 37) commented on Jones' testimony, stating, "Nobody here can be not impressed. By what we just heard, I just wish we would have a larger population, perhaps among the nondisabled, who would take a stronger interest in what's going on in the world around them and the country around them and in our state to have gotten themselves here to give us input."

Not only were both bills were passed unanimously, they were co-sponsored by members of the Senate State Government Committee immediately after the testimonies were given.

Two companion bills were then introduced in the Assembly. On March 12 more representatives from advocacy groups testified to the Assembly, urging its support of Assembly Concurrent Resolution

ACR)-240 and Assembly Bill 4030. On the same day, the Senate State Government Committee passed S-2476 and SCR-134 with 36 yeas and 0 nays.

Our Monday Morning Network members then collected hundreds of signatures on petitions at the 2007 Abilities Expo in April and also online. Letters were then sent to Assemblyman Joseph Roberts (D- 5) urging him to pass ACR-240. On June 21 ACR-240 was passed by the Assembly with 36 yeas, 0 nays and 0 abstentions. Gov. Jon Corzine then signed, approving the constitutional amendment as a public question on the ballot.

The Monday Morning project is now working with other advocacy groups on efforts urging the general public to vote yes on the constitutional amendment removing the offensive language describing voters with disabilities in the state constitution. In the weeks before Election Day, fliers, announcements and reminders to voters in "get-out-the-vote" calls to vote yes on the constitutional amendment will be in effect. The public question will be No. 4 on the ballot and is nonpartisan.

Voting yes on Public Question No. 4 will not only remove offensive and archaic language that has been in existence since 1844 in the state constitution, it will help support and seriously recognize voters with disabilities.

On behalf of voters with all disabilities, I strongly urge you to please vote yes on Public Question No. 4 on Election Day, Nov. 6.

Anita Clavering, a resident of Old Bridge, is a facilitator with the Monday Morning Advocacy Network of Middlesex County