Sponsored by:
Senator PARKER SPACE
District 24 (Morris, Sussex and Warren)
SYNOPSIS
Removes provisions for acceptance of mail-in ballots received after election day; increases penalties for violation of ballot messenger and bearer limits and candidate prohibition.
CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT
As introduced.
An Act concerning the mail-in ballot acceptance deadline and the penalties for certain violations of the ballot messenger and bearer provisions and amending P.L.2009, c.79.
Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:
1. Section 22 of P.L.2009, c.79 (C.19:63-22) is amended to read as follows:
22. a. On the day of each election, or as provided under subsection b. of this section, each county board of elections shall open in the presence of the commissioner of registration, or the designee thereof, the inner envelopes that contain the mail-in ballots with the votes cast for the election. The inner envelopes containing the ballots that the board or the Superior Court has rejected shall not be so opened, but shall be retained as provided for by this act. The board shall then proceed to canvass the votes cast on the mail-in ballots, but no such ballot shall be counted in any primary election for the general election if the ballot of the political party marked for voting thereon differs from the designation of the political party in the primary election of which such ballot is intended to be voted as marked on the envelope by the county board of elections.
[Every mail-in ballot that bears a postmark date before or of the day of the election and that is received by the county board within 144 hours after the time of the closing of the polls for the election that the ballot was prepared shall be considered valid and shall be canvassed. Every mail-in ballot that does not bear a postmark date but that is received by the county board by delivery of the United States Postal Service before, or within 48 hours after, the time of the closing of the polls for the election for which the ballot was prepared shall be considered valid and shall be canvassed.]
b. A county board of elections may begin opening the inner envelopes for each mail-in ballot and canvassing each mail-in ballot from the inner envelope no earlier than five days prior to the day of the election. The Secretary of State shall establish guidelines concerning the early canvassing process. If a county board of elections begins opening the inner envelopes and canvassing the mail-in ballots from the inner envelopes prior to the day of the election, the county board shall implement the measures necessary to ensure the security and secrecy of the mail-in ballots. The contents of the mail-in ballots and the results of the ballot canvassing shall remain confidential and shall be disclosed only in accordance with the provisions of Title 19 of the Revised Statutes, regulations and guidelines concerning the disclosure of election results, and in no circumstances disclosed prior to the close of polls on the day of the election. In addition to the guidelines concerning the early canvassing process, the Secretary of State shall promulgate regulations to ensure that any county board of elections that begins opening the inner envelopes and canvassing the mail-in ballots from the inner envelopes prior to the closing of the polls on election day shall do so in a manner that prevents any person, including any person who is authorized to receive and canvass completed mail-in ballots, from obtaining knowledge of the unofficial results of ballots cast for any candidate for public office or any public question submitted to the voters until after the closing of the polls on election day. No tally or tabulation of results shall occur prior to the opening of polls on election day. As provided under R.S.19:34-13, any person who is authorized to receive and canvass completed mail-in-ballots who knowingly discloses to the public the contents of a mail-in ballot prior to the time designated by law for the closing of the polls for each election shall be guilty of a crime of the third degree.
c. Immediately after the canvass is completed, the respective county boards of election shall certify the result of the canvass to the county clerk or the municipal or district clerk or other appropriate officer, as the case may be, showing the result of the canvass by municipality and ward. The votes thus canvassed shall be counted in determining the result of the election.
The county board of elections shall, immediately after the canvass is completed for any primary election, certify the results of the votes cast for members of the county committees to the respective municipal clerks, and those votes shall be counted in determining the result of the election.
Each mail-in ballot cast, canvassed, and tallied in an election under this section, excluding a fire district election, shall be reported in the results for the election district in which the voter resides. Whenever the reporting requirement of this subsection would cause a voter's privacy to be violated, the election results shall be reported in a manner that maintains the privacy of the vote.
(cf: P.L.2022, c.70, s.7)
2. Section 28 of P.L.2009, c.79 (C.19:63-28) is amended to read as follows:
28. a. Any person who knowingly violates any of the provisions of P.L.2009, c.79 (C.19:63-1 et al.), or who, not being entitled to vote thereunder, fraudulently votes or attempts to vote thereunder, or enables or attempts to enable another person not entitled to vote thereunder to vote fraudulently thereunder, or who prevents or attempts to prevent by fraud the voting of any person legally entitled to vote under this act, or who shall knowingly certify falsely in any paper required under this act, or who, at any time, tampers with any ballot or document used in an election or interferes with the secrecy of the voting of any person, is guilty of a crime of the third degree, and upon conviction thereof shall be subject, in addition to such other penalties as are authorized by law, to disenfranchisement while serving a sentence of incarceration, unless and until pardoned or restored by law to the right of suffrage.
b. Any person who knowingly aids and abets another in violating any of the provisions of this section is guilty of a crime of the third degree and upon conviction thereof shall be subject, in addition to such other penalties as are authorized by law, to disenfranchisement while serving a sentence of incarceration, unless and until pardoned or restored by law to the right of suffrage.
c. Notwithstanding the provisions of this section to the contrary, any person who knowingly violates the provisions of P.L.2009, c.79 (C.19:63-1 et al.) that prohibit a person from serving as an authorized messenger or as a bearer for more than three qualified voters in an election, and that prohibit a person who is a candidate in the election for which the voter requests a mail-in ballot from serving as an authorized messenger or bearer, is guilty of a crime of the second degree, and upon conviction thereof shall be subject, in addition to such other penalties as are authorized by law, to disenfranchisement, unless and until pardoned or restored by law to the right of suffrage.
(cf: P.L.2019, c.270, s.10)
3. This act shall take effect immediately.
STATEMENT
This bill removes the provision of current law that allows for mail-in ballots to be counted if received within 144-hours after the polls closed and are postmarked by election day. This bill also removes the provision of current law that allows for mail-in ballots to be counted if received by the county board 48-hours after the p