Voting in Washington Township

Polling place parking lot filled with poll workers' cars.

Yesterday was Primary Day in New Jersey. There was not much in the way of contested Democratic primaries, but I try to vote in every election.

At around 8:00am, I pulled up to the polling place, the Washington Township Ambulance Corps building, and saw a full parking lot. Great turnout? Think again. All the prime spots were taken by poll workers.

The Ambulance Corp building accommodates two voting districts, 23 and 24. Each district has a table, three people at each table. There are two page-turners, for the first and second half of the alphabet, and a third person who sits and does nothing. There is a greeter near the door, and and at least on curtain opener and ticket taker at the voting booths. There may be other hangers-on but in all I was able to count eight poll workers and one voter (myself).I walked up to the district 23 table, and gave my name, and spelled it out. 

Me: "P-I-C-K-E-N-S"
Poll worker: "T-I?"
Me: "No. P-I-C-K-E-N-S" 

After I spelled my name out not once, not twice, but THREE times, the idiot at the table still turned to the "T" page, and I had to direct him to the "P" page. Apparently he doesn't understand indexing because he started with the "PA" page, then went page by page, running his finger down each page so excruciatingly slowly I could barely detect movement. Then when he finally got to the "PI" page, looked up and me, and said "Pierce?", I had to find my name myself and point it out to him. Then to add insult to injury he asked, "Republican"?He handed me my ticket (why are the Democratic tickets pick and the Republican tickets blue?) and I went into the voting booth. I voted for Bob Menendez, Francis Tenaglio, running against Rep. Rob Andrews, wrote my own name in for the LD-4 Assembly, and abstained on the rest.

When I went back to my car, parked in the Midas Muffler parking lot because the polling place lot was filled with poll workers' cars, there was a kid standing near my car with a fistful of M&Ms. He asked me if I had voted for the "Three M's" (Republicans running for WT Mayor and Council). I asked him if he was 100 feet from the building. I wanted to ask him, "why the fuck aren't you in school", but I took pity on him as after a few hours I'm sure he would rather have been in school.

I could have lied and got myself a free bag of M&Ms.

NJ-CAN Organizes to "Dump the Christiecrats"

Today, I received the following email from a new organization called NJ-CAN. Their objective is to remove from power the so-called "Christiecrats", NJ Democrats in the State Legislature who have betrayed Democratic principals and sided with Governor Chris Christie's anti union, anti middle class, pro corporate agenda.

On Monday, August 8, 2011, NJ-CAN held a press conference at the Veterans Plaza in Trenton, New Jersey, to demonstrate democracy still works and the people have power.
This event marked the launch of a petition campaign demanding the removal of Senate President, Steve Sweeney and Assembly Speaker, Sheila Oliver, from their positions as leaders of New Jersey Senate and Assembly.

Spearheading both a Statewide petition and a “write-in” campaign, NJ-CAN, a newly formed Statewide organization comprised of  various community groups, labor organizations and unaffiliated concerned citizens, to mount a counterattack on those Democrats who voted for the disastrous pensions and benefits bill this summer, inflicting undue pain and suffering upon the working people in New Jersey. Their actions prompted the naming of the 22 Democrats, who voted to pass the bill, to be referred to as the Christiecrats.

Assembly and Senate Democrats, including Senate President, Stephen Sweeney and Speaker Sheila Oliver, have repeatedly spoken of their credentials as defenders of the working and middle classes. However, actions speak louder than words, and the surrender to Christie’s pension and benefit plan displays a traitorous betrayal of the Democratic party principles.

As stated by Labor Attorney, BENNET D. ZUROFSKY, “As Democrats, we are deeply ashamed.  If we sit still for this, we will be akin to those suffering from “battered spouse syndrome” – unable to summon the courage to break away from an abusive relationship despite knowing that we must end it for our own good.”
Therefore, citizens, through the formation of NJ-CAN, have taken it upon themselves to hold these Christiecrat Democrats accountable.

The petition and a “write-in” campaign are an outward expression of the outrage felt at such a betrayal to the people of New Jersey, and failure of the Christiecrats to remember that this is OUR government; a representative government: “OF the People, BY the People and FOR the People”.


NJ-CAN was formed to be a Statewide umbrella group for all unions, community organizations and involved residents of New Jersey  to work together now and in the future to build a strong network within the state to hold our elected representatives accountable, to actively seek  challengers when need be and to fight against destructive legislation that is detrimental to the residents of New Jersey in a unified manner.

If you wish to become a member of the group, go to our website  NJ-CAN [1]  and register. If you have any questions, or wish to sign up as a co-sponsor, there is a place to contact us on the website.

NJ-CAN’s statewide petition drive “Demand Removal of Sweeney and Oliver from Leadership Positions” is the first part of a three phase campaign named “Dump the Christiecrats”. You can sign the petition here [2] or on our website NJ-CAN.org [3] . Also on our site you can print out copies of the petition and help us to collect signatures, then return them to NJ-CAN, P.O. Box 54, Collingswood, NJ 08108

We are happy that for a change, we did receive some press coverage of the kick off , by the Courier Post [4]and it was also picked up by PolitickerNJ.

We are still receiving more inquiries from the press and other groups who want to know more about what NJ-CAN is trying to achieve.

You can play an important part in growing this movement, by telling others about it, by entering comments under articles about NJ-CAN or related news items, volunteer to secure signatures on the petition at events, shopping centers, or neighborhood corner.

New Jersey…Here is Your Chance to Fight Back Like Wisconsin !!!

[1] http://www.nj-can.org/
[2] http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/dumpchristiecrats/
[3] http://www.nj-can.org/
[4] http://www.courierpostonline.com/article/20110809/NEWS02/108090337/Liberal-group-goes-after-Christie-crats-