Measure
would add New Jersey to list of more than 30 states that currently allow early
voting
(TRENTON) – Seeking to give residents
more voting alternatives following the Election Day woes created by Superstorm
Sandy, Assembly Deputy Speaker John S. Wisniewski (D-Middlesex) will introduce a
bill creating an early voting option for primary and general elections in New
Jersey.
“People are busy. Many have long work
days or other responsibilities that prevent them from hitting the polls on
Election Day. Then there are the natural disasters that we simply can’t plan
for. Sandy threw a wrench into the machinery of Election Day and created
tremendous confusion in some counties,” said Wisniewski. “This is a matter of
convenience and ensuring that every resident who is registered and wants to vote
will have the opportunity to do so. The right to vote and participate in the
democratic process is one of our most sacred rights. We should give residents
every chance to exercise it.”
Thirty-two states and the District of
Columbia currently have an early voting program allowing duly-registered voters
to vote in person at specially-designated polling locations prior to Election
Day.
The bill proposed by Wisniewski
creates an early voting process to allow registered voters in New Jersey to cast
their votes at specially designated polling places, starting on the fourth Monday before a
primary or general election and ending on the Sunday before the election. A
municipality holding municipal elections on the second Tuesday in May may also
conduct early voting for those municipal elections via an ordinance adopted by
its governing body. A voter who participates in early voting would not be
allowed to vote by mail-in ballot or in person on Election Day.
Under the bill, each county board
would designate each county clerk’s office in each county and each municipal
clerk’s office in each municipality as the sites for early voting to take place.
The sites would be open for eight hours each day, seven days a week, and early
voting would be conducted using the same machines, ballots and procedures used
on the day of any election.
A duly-registered voter would be
permitted to vote after signing an early voting voter certificate, and after the
voter’s eligibility to vote is ascertained in the same manner as is done on
Election Day. At least once each day during the early voting period, and prior
to the start of the regularly scheduled election, each county board must make
such changes as may be necessary to the voter’s record in the statewide voter
registration system and the signature copy register used at each polling place
to indicate that a voter has voted in that election using the early voting
procedure.
The bill also provides that, in
addition to any publications required under Title 19 of the Revised Statutes,
the Secretary of State and county boards of elections must publish information
concerning the early voting procedure on the Department of State website and the
respective county’s website. The early voting information must include, but may
not be limited to, a notice to the public concerning their eligibility to
participate in early voting, the duration of the early voting period and the
locations and hours of operation of specially designated polling places for
early voting in each county.
Funds to pay for early voting would
be provided to each county governing body and each non-partisan municipal
governing body that approves early voting in such amounts as the State Treasurer
and the Director of the Division of Budget and Accounting in the Department of
the Treasury deem necessary to cover any additional costs incurred as a result
of this bill.
“We already allow absentee and
mail-in voting as alternatives to voting on Election Day. Adding a third option
gives residents who may not be able to vote on Election Day the opportunity to
have their voices heard and votes counted,” said Wisniewski. “More than half the
country currently allows its residents to vote early. It’s time for New Jersey
to give its residents the same benefit.”
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