Florida changes vote date to avoid Passover conflict
November 26, 2009
WASHINGTON (JTA) -- The date of a special election in Florida to fill the seat of a prominent Jewish congressman was changed because it fell on the last day of Passover.
Florida's Republican governor, Charlie Crist, announced Wednesday that the election would be delayed a week -- from April 6 to April 13, 2010.
The change comes a couple days after the group Shalom International sent a letter to Crist calling the original date "an attack on the religious Jewish community."
Two of the Democratic candidates running to replace Wexler in a primary that will be held Feb. 2 also are Jewish, state Sen. Ted Deutch and former Broward County Mayor Ben Graber.
Wexler leaves Congress in January to take over as head of the Center for Middle East Peace and Economic Cooperation.
Kunst wrote a letter to Crist Wednesday thanking him for being a "mensch."
"In supporting religious freedoms for everyone, this is a model for everyone not to infringe on these Constitutional and moral rights for all peoples of faith," he wrote.