An emergency lawsuit seeking a temporary injunction to postpone the Town of Surfside’s mayoral runoff election due to a scheduling conflict with Pesach was filed in Miami-Dade County on Friday.

The runoff election between former Mayor Shlomo Danzinger and Vice Mayor Tina Paul, is currently scheduled for April 7. This date coincides with the final day of Chol Hamoed Pesach and Erev Yom Tov.

“The right to vote and the right to religious observance are both fundamental, and the government cannot needlessly force citizens to sacrifice one to exercise the other,” Rabbi Mark Goldfeder, CEO of the National Jewish Advocacy Center (NJAC), told Belaaz. “Moving this election by one week is a minimal burden on the town and a major protection for the rights of every affected voter. This should be an easy call.”

The lawsuit, filed by NJAC and GS2 Law PLLC on behalf of Chabad of Surfside, Rabbi Zalman Lipskar, United Orthodox Synagogues of Surfside, and six registered voters, seeks to move the election to April 14. Surfside has an estimated 2,500 Jewish residents out of a total population of 5,700, with approximately 35 percent of the Jewish population identifying as Orthodox.

“The right to vote is the cornerstone of our democracy, and no citizen should ever be forced to choose between their faith and their franchise,” NJAC Litigation Counsel David Benger said. “A one-week postponement costs the Town nothing and guarantees that every eligible voter in Surfside, regardless of religious observance, can participate in choosing their next mayor.”

The complaint alleges violations of the Florida Religious Freedom Restoration Act, the Free Exercise Clause of the First and Fourteenth Amendments, and the Equal Protection Clause.

The petition also cites a public letter from outgoing Mayor Charles Burkett, which the lawsuit argues is evidence that the election date does not operate in a neutral environment and reflects an anti-Jewish bias. According to the complaint, Burkett characterized the Jewish community’s voting bloc as “frightened and misled religious voters” who “vote in lockstep,” framing the election as a contest between the Jewish community’s “25%” and “the remaining 75%,” and urging non-Jewish voters to “overcome the fearmongering.”

Robert Garson of GS2 Law PLLC stated that the lawsuit pushes back against a message that a community’s faith disqualifies it from participating in democracy.

“This is precisely the kind of case lawyers should take pro bono, where a community is effectively being told: your faith disqualifies you from participating in democracy,” Garson said. “That is not just wrong, it is unconstitutional. We are here to make sure that message is rejected, clearly and decisively.”

The petition notes that the neighboring Town of Bay Harbor Islands unanimously moved its own April 2026 municipal election to April 14 to avoid the exact same Pesach conflict, and that Florida, New York, New Jersey, and Illinois have established precedents for accommodating observant Jewish voters.