Bill Text: NJ A6217 | 2024-2025 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Requires circulator of recall petition to take oath by affidavit before officer duly qualified to administer oath.
Sponsorship: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2025-12-08 - Introduced, Referred to Assembly State and Local Government Committee [A6217 Detail]
Download: New_Jersey-2024-A6217-Introduced.html
Sponsored by:
Assemblyman GABRIEL RODRIGUEZ
District 33 (Hudson)
SYNOPSIS
Requires circulator of recall petition to take oath by affidavit before officer duly qualified to administer oath.
CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT
As introduced.
An Act concerning the validity requirements for recall petitions and amending P.L.1995, c.105.
Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:
1. Section 9 of P.L.1995, c.105 (C.19:27A-9) is amended to read as follows:
9. a. A circulator of a recall petition shall not be required to be a registered voter, but shall be voter eligible, which means at least 18 years of age, a resident of this State, a citizen of the United States, and not otherwise disqualified under the New Jersey Constitution.
b. [Each] To protect against petition fraud, each completed page of any section of a recall petition which is filed with the recall election official shall include at the bottom of that page an oath by affidavit taken and subscribed before an officer duly qualified under the laws of New Jersey to administer an oath, and signed by the circulator of that section which sets forth the following:
(1) the printed name of the circulator;
(2) the address of the circulator;
(3) a statement that the circulator assumed responsibility for circulating that section, that the circulator witnessed the signing of that page by each person whose signature appears thereon, that, to the best information and belief of the circulator, the signers are legal residents of the State and of the county in which the section was circulated, and that the section was circulated in absolute good faith for the purpose of causing the recall of the elected official named in the petition;
(4) the dates between which all signatures to that page were collected; [and]
(5) a statement, signed by the circulator, as to the truth and correctness of the aforesaid information; and
(6) the printed name and signature of the officer duly qualified under the laws of New Jersey who administered the oath.
(cf: P.L.2014, c.83, s.6)
2. This act shall take effect immediately.
STATEMENT
This bill requires each circulator of a recall petition to take an oath by affidavit before an officer duly qualified to administer an oath in this State.
Under current law, persons who circulate petitions to recall an elected official by recall election must sign an affidavit stating the circulator's name and address and that the circulator personally circulated the petition in good faith and witnessed all the signatures. However, the circulator is not required to do so in the presence of an officer qualified to administer an oath.
To prevent petition fraud, this bill would require that the circulator take an oath by affidavit in front of such an officer, which is the same requirement applicable to petitions nominating an individual for office at any election.
