Passover bill

At the request of the Jewish Council for Good Government (JCGG) in 1982, State Representative Ellis Levin introduced, and won passage of, a bill to change the date of Spring municipal elections when Election Day fell during the eight days of Passover, a major Jewish holiday.

JCGG argued that there would be chaos in Jewish precincts if the election was held during Passover. Jewish people would not be able to work as election judges during the holiday and Jewish voters would not be able to go to the polls to vote.

The majority would have to vote by absentee ballot. There was no early voting back then and mail ballots were only available to people who claimed they would be out of the county on Election Day.

The bill passed and the 1983 municipal election was rescheduled to one week later, so it would be compliant with the new legislation.