Bill Text: NJ A4632 | 2022-2023 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Prohibits New Jersey Legislature from solely altering conduct or outcome of any election; reaffirms separation of powers concerning elections.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 2-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2022-09-22 - Introduced, Referred to Assembly State and Local Government Committee [A4632 Detail]
Download: New_Jersey-2022-A4632-Introduced.html
Sponsored by:
Assemblyman BENJIE E. WIMBERLY
District 35 (Bergen and Passaic)
SYNOPSIS
Prohibits New Jersey Legislature from solely altering conduct or outcome of any election; reaffirms separation of powers concerning elections.
CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT
As introduced.
An Act concerning the power of the New Jersey Legislature to alter the conduct or outcome of any election and supplementing chapter 1 of Title 19 of the Revised Statutes.
Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:
1. The Legislature shall not have the sole power to prescribe the conduct or alter the outcome of any election conducted in this State. All elections in this State shall be conducted in a manner consistent with the separation of powers among the legislative, executive, and judicial branches of government stipulated under Article III, paragraph 1 of the New Jersey Constitution, and no person or persons belonging to or constituting one branch shall exercise any of the powers properly belonging to either of the others, except as expressly provided in the New Jersey Constitution.
2. This act shall take effect immediately.
STATEMENT
This bill would prohibit the New Jersey State Legislature from having the sole power alter the conduct or outcome of any election in this State, and reaffirms the principle of the separation of powers among the legislative, executive, and judicial branches of government concerning elections.
Under the New Jersey State Constitution and various provisions of Title 19 of the Revised Statutes, the conduct and outcome of any election conducted in this State involves prescribed roles for the legislative, executive, and judicial branches of government. For example, the Legislature may pass laws concerning elections to be signed by the Governor; the Division of Elections in the Department of State and local election officials have multiple roles in the proper administration of local, State, and federal elections; and courts in the judicial branch may adjudicate election-related matters, such as challenger disputes, challenges to certain election outcomes, and the constitutionality of legislative and congressional district maps.
This bill prohibits the Legislature from having the sole power to prescribe the conduct or alter the outcome of any election conducted in this State. The bill further provides that all elections conducted in this State must be conducted in a manner consistent with the separation of powers among the legislative, executive, and judicial branches of government stipulated under the New Jersey Constitution. Under the bill, one branch would not be permitted to exercise any of the powers properly belonging to either of the others, except as expressly provided in the New Jersey Constitution.
This bill is intended to preserve these principles in the State of New Jersey in the event the United States Supreme Court upholds the "independent state legislature" theory, which holds that the United States Constitution gives state legislatures the sole power to regulate federal elections without review by state courts. The "independent state legislature" theory is central to the Moore v. Harper case, concerning legislative redistricting in North Carolina.
