Bill Text: NJ SR97 | 2026-2027 | Regular Session | Comm Sub
Bill Title: Condemns federal efforts aimed at restricting voting and urges federal government to protect Americans' voting rights.
Sponsorship: Partisan Bill (Democrat 2)
Status: (Introduced) 2026-05-21 - Reported from Senate Committee as a Substitute, 2nd Reading [SR97 Detail]
Download: New_Jersey-2026-SR97-Comm_Sub.html
SENATE COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE FOR
SENATE RESOLUTION Nos. 97 and 99
STATE OF NEW JERSEY
222nd LEGISLATURE
ADOPTED MAY 21, 2026
Sponsored by:
Senator JOHN F. MCKEON
District 27 (Essex and Passaic)
Senator RAJ MUKHERJI
District 32 (Hudson)
SYNOPSIS
Condemns federal efforts aimed at restricting voting and urges federal government to protect Americans' voting rights.
CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT
Substitute as adopted by the Senate State Government, Wagering, Tourism & Historic Preservation Committee.
A Senate Resolution strongly condemning federal efforts aimed at restricting voting and urging the federal government to protect Americans' right to vote.
Whereas, Any effort to prevent eligible citizens of the United States from voting undermines democracy and is an affront to American ideals, yet, President Trump and Congress are pursuing efforts to make voting less accessible to Americans across the country; and
Whereas, On March 31, 2026, President Trump issued Executive Order 14399 on mail-in voting that attempts to impose new federal controls over how states administer elections, including creating federal citizenship lists, establishing new mail-in ballot transmission rules, and threatening enforcement against state and local election officials; and
Whereas, The Trump administration is once again overstepping its authority in an attempt to control an election process that the United States Constitution clearly delegates to the states and to Congress; and
Whereas, Federal courts have blocked key portions of the Trump administration's 2025 elections Executive Order 14248, concluding that the President lacks the authority to direct federal election administration in areas reserved to the states and to Congress; and
Whereas, Now, the Trump administration is ordering the United States Department of Homeland Security, in consultation with the Social Security Administration, to use various databases and information sources to compile lists of United States citizens residing in each state who will be 18 years or older at the time of the next election; and
Whereas, These databases contain sensitive information and any data matching would need to proceed with the utmost concern for data privacy and security, a process that would take years, not the few months that the order requires; and
Whereas, The use of incomplete or mismatched federal databases to create a federal citizenship list risks disenfranchising eligible voters, including elderly citizens, citizens with limited mobility, citizens who lack reliable transportation, naturalized citizens, members of the military, and other citizens legally entitled to vote under state and federal law, but whose information, including citizenship status, may be missing from these databases; and
Whereas, Executive Order 14399 requires states to provide the names of registered voters who are eligible to receive mail-in ballots to the United States Postal Service (USPS) in advance of each regularly scheduled federal election; and
Whereas, This executive order inserts a non-election agency into a sensitive role in the election process by ordering the USPS to withhold ballots from people who are not on the states' lists of voters eligible to receive mail-in ballots; and
Whereas, State and local officials who do not comply with the order are threatened with a loss of federal funds and legal consequences, which unjustly pressures and attempts to coerce states into adopting these cumbersome and unnecessary procedures that disrupt the voting process; and
Whereas, Congress is considering the "SAVE America Act," which would mandate that every person provide documentary proof of citizenship, such as a birth certificate, certificate of naturalization, or American passport when registering to vote in federal elections and to provide photo identification that matches the citizenship documentation when voting; and
Whereas, Many Americans, including married women, have changed their names since birth and, as a result, now have photo identification with names that do not match their birth certificates; and
Whereas, Requiring documentary proof of citizenship tied to birth records could disenfranchise millions of Americans, particularly women who have changed their names due to marriage or divorce; and
Whereas, For most of our nation's history, women had been systematically denied the right to vote, which is a cornerstone of democracy and fundamental for citizens to influence the decisions that affect their lives; and
Whereas, When New Jersey adopted its first constitution on July 2, 1776, it granted certain women in the State the right to vote; and
Whereas, Over the years, New Jersey extended the right to vote to more women until that right was taken away in 1807, when the New Jersey Legislature passed a law restricting suffrage to tax-paying White men; and
Whereas, Women in New Jersey and across the nation fought for more than a century for the right to vote through protesting, bringing legal challenges, attempting to vote, conducting hunger strikes, being verbally and physically attacked by the public and the police, being arrested during protests, authoring papers, and more in a hard-won fight for suffrage; and
Whereas, Even after the ratification of the 19th Amendment in 1920, many women, especially women of color, faced barriers to voting, such as literacy tests, poll taxes, and violent intimidation, until the passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965; and
Whereas, Women's right to vote is once again under attack as the President and Congress are pursuing efforts to make voting less accessible to Americans across the country; and
Whereas, The act's requirement for in-person voter registration or updates with elections officials would effectively end voter registration online, by mail, and through community registration drives where elections officials are not present, thus disproportionately impacting working mothers, caregivers, the elderly, and survivors of domestic violence who may lack the required documentation or stable records; and
Whereas, While the proponents of these measures argue that they are necessary to prevent non-citizens from voting, there is overwhelming evidence that it is extremely rare for non-citizens to vote in elections, and these measures are far more likely to prevent many United States citizens from voting than to address those limited instances; and
Whereas, New Jersey believes in ensuring that every citizen's right to vote is not compromised and opposes any federal action that would roll back the progress secured through generations of women's suffrage advocacy; and
Whereas, Free, fair, and accessible elections are a core constitutional function of the states and a cornerstone of a functioning democracy, and Executive Order 14399 and the "SAVE America Act" threaten to undermine the integrity of the elections process in this State and across the nation; now, therefore,
Be It Resolved by the Senate of the State of New Jersey:
1. This House reaffirms its commitment to protecting the voting rights of all eligible United States citizens, condemns President Trump's Executive Order 14399 aimed at restricting mail-in voting, and urges Congress to reject any efforts that would negatively impact women's suffrage, including the "SAVE America Act."
2. Copies of this resolution, as filed with the Secretary of State, shall be transmitted by the Secretary of the Senate to the President and Vice President of the United States, the Majority and Minority Leaders of the United States Senate, the Speaker and the Minority Leader of the United States House of Representatives, and each member of Congress elected from this State.
