Bill Text: NJ A996 | 2024-2025 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Requires county clerks to send confirmation notice to vote-by-mail applicant that requests mail-in ballot at separate mailing address than address at which applicant is registered to vote.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 4-0)
Status: (Introduced) 2024-01-09 - Introduced, Referred to Assembly State and Local Government Committee [A996 Detail]
Download: New_Jersey-2024-A996-Introduced.html
STATE OF NEW JERSEY
221st LEGISLATURE
PRE-FILED FOR INTRODUCTION IN THE 2024 SESSION
Sponsored by:
Assemblywoman NANCY F. MUNOZ
District 21 (Middlesex, Morris, Somerset and Union)
Assemblywoman AURA K. DUNN
District 25 (Morris and Passaic)
Assemblywoman MICHELE MATSIKOUDIS
District 21 (Middlesex, Morris, Somerset and Union)
SYNOPSIS
Requires county clerks to send confirmation notice to vote-by-mail applicant that requests mail-in ballot at separate mailing address than address at which applicant is registered to vote.
CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT
Introduced Pending Technical Review by Legislative Counsel.
An Act concerning applications for vote-by-mail ballots to county clerks and amending P.L.2009, c.79.
Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:
1. Section 5 of P.L.2009, c.79 (C.19:63-5) is amended to read as follows:
5. In the case of any election, the application for a mail-in ballot shall be made to the county clerk. The county clerk shall stamp thereon the date on which the application was received in the clerk's office. If the applicant requested on the application that the mail-in ballot be sent to a different mailing address than the address at which the applicant is registered to vote, the county clerk shall send a confirmation notice to the applicant at the address at which the applicant is registered to vote. The confirmation notice shall inform the applicant that a mail-in ballot has been requested at a separate mailing address than the address at which the applicant is registered to vote and provide instructions on how to contact the appropriate officials to remedy a false request or correct any other inaccurate information contained in the confirmation notice.
In the case of applications for overseas federal election voter ballots, as provided for in P.L.1976, c.23 (C.19:59-1 et seq.), no application shall be refused on the grounds that it was submitted too early.
In the case of voter registration forms that include a selected vote by mail option, a copy of each such form shall be transmitted to and received by the appropriate county clerk, who shall be responsible for providing mail-in ballots to each qualified voter requesting such ballots for future elections, until the voter requests otherwise in writing.
(cf: P.L.2018, c.72, s.5)
2. This act shall take effect immediately.
STATEMENT
This bill requires county clerks to send a confirmation notice to vote-by-mail applicants that requests a mail-in ballot at a separate mailing address than the address at which the applicant is registered to vote.
Under current law, an applicant to vote-by-mail can request that a mail-in ballot be sent to a separate mailing address than the address at which the applicant is registered to vote. However, a notice to the applicant at the registration address confirming the address where an applicant's mail-in ballot will be sent is not required.
Under the bill, county clerks will be required to send a confirmation notice to inform vote-by-mail applicants that a mail-in ballot has been requested at a separate mailing address than the applicant's voting residence. The confirmation notice will be required to contain instructions on how to contact the appropriate officials to remedy a false request or correct any other inaccurate information contained in the confirmation notice.
