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New Jersey - State Assembly members have passed a new bill that will allow the state Department of Education to reschedule special school elections if they fall on religious holidays.

Co-sponsored by District 11 Assembly members David Rible and Mary Pat Angelini, the new bill authorizes the state Commissioner of Education to change the allowable dates for a special school election if that date, "coincides with a religious observance that limits significantly the usual activities of the followers of a particular religion."

The bill comes in the wake of a vote that was planned to be held Rosh Hashana for an $8 million referendum on improvements at Shore Regional High School.

Several voters in the Shore Regional High School district, which is comprised of West Long Branch, Monmouth Beach, Sea Bright and Oceanport, said that they were outraged after learning that the referendum vote coincided with Rosh Hashana, calling the move "anti-Semitic."

Residents of the Jewish faith are prohibited from performing tasks, such as driving and writing, starting at sundown on Rosh Hashana, said Freddie Harari, a resident of West Long Branch.

"The main problem is that Rosh Hashana is a well known holiday throughout the world," Harari said.

"It is in almost all calendars throughout the United States," Harari said, adding, "This is an act of discrimination, because the officials who made the decision had to have realized that this will eliminate all Jewish voters from participating in the vote."

State Senator Sean Kean (D-11) joined Angelini and Rible in expressing their distaste with the state's election guidelines.

"Scheduling an election on Rosh Hashana is inconvenient for people of the Jewish faith whose activities are restricted while they observe this holiday," Kean said.

"We need to enact this legislation to ensure this unfortunate situation does not occur in the future," he added.

West Long Branch resident Michael Missry said he does not believe the referendum vote was scheduled to be held on Rosh Hashana on purpose, but he is still disappointed.

"The vote will not represent all of the West Long Branch residents due to the fact that many people are unable to cast their votes on the holiday," Missry said.

Officials at Shore Regional point to the state law for the reason that the referendum vote was held on Rosh Hashana.

"That date is set in statute," Shore Regional High School Business Administrator Dennis Kotch said. "That date is not set by Shore Regional."

According to Kotch, the district had attempted to be accommodating to its Jewish voters.

Kotch explained that he personally collected absentee ballot applications from people unable to vote on the Jewish holiday and took them to the county Board of Elections office.

"We sympathize with them," Kotch said. "We understand their concern.

"The state made a poor decision and we've had to deal with it," he said, adding, "We at no time meant any disrespect to the Jewish population."

The school district has been petitioning the county since early August in an attempt to have the date of the referendum vote rescheduled, according to Kotch.

"We wanted to move this election one week to Oct. 7, but we can't," Kotch said. "We tried since the beginning of August."