S1399

An Act concerning the canvassing of votes cast during the early voting period and through mail-in ballots and amending P.L.2021, c.40 and P.L.2009, c.22.

Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:

1. Section 4 of P.L.2021, c.40 (C.19:15A-4) is amended to read as follows:

4. a. An early vote cast in an election, as provided for in this act, P.L.2021, c.40 (C.19:15A-1 et al.), shall not be canvassed prior to the closing of the polls on the day of an election, except as provided under subsection b. of this section.

Every provisional ballot voted in each such election and determined by a county board to be valid shall be counted and shall be part of the official tally of the results of the election.

b. (1) A county clerk may begin canvassing each early vote, excluding provisional and emergency ballots, no earlier than 24 hours after the conclusion of the early voting period. The Secretary of State may establish guidelines concerning the early vote canvassing process. If a county clerk begins canvassing such early votes prior to the day of the election, the county clerk shall implement the measures necessary to ensure the security and secrecy of the early votes, which shall include following any guidelines issued by the Secretary of State. The early votes and the results of the 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.

(2) Any person who knowingly discloses to the public the early votes and the results of the canvass 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. The county board of elections shall transmit the media for the early voting canvass authorized under subsection b. of this section to the county clerk for canvass no later than the opening of the polls on the day of the election.

d. Early voting results, excluding those from provisional or emergency ballots, shall be reported on the date of the election following the closing of the polls that day. After the canvass is completed, early voting results shall be reported as a separate column alongside the columns for election day voting results and mail-in voting results.

(cf: P.L.2021, c.40, s.4)

2. Section 22 of P.L.2009, c.22 (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 no earlier than five days prior to the day of the election and may begin canvassing each mail-in ballot from the inner envelopes no earlier than three days prior to the day of the election, and shall begin canvassing no later than the opening of the polls on day of the election. The county board of elections shall transfer the media containing any canvassed mail-in results to the county clerk no later than one hour following the close of the polls. Canvassed mail-in results shall be reported on the date of the election following the closing of the polls that day and shall be reported as a separate column alongside the columns for election day voting results and early voting results, excluding results from provisional or emergency ballots.

The Secretary of State may 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, which shall include following any guidelines established by the Secretary of State. To the extent capable, the scanning and tabulation system shall restrict the generation of any tabulation or results report to system administrators only. The administrator passwords shall not be shared. No such report may be run before 8:00 p.m. on the day of the election, and, to the extent such system is capable, each county board of elections shall submit to the Division of Elections no later than 24 hours following the close of the polls on the day of the election a complete copy of the scanning and tabulation system’s audit log from the time that scanning commenced until 8:00 p.m. on the date of the election. If the audit log reveals that a tabulation or results report was generated before 8:00 p.m. on the day of the election, the Division of Elections shall report such information to the appropriate authorities.

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. As provided under R.S.19:34-13, any person 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] clerks 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.

(cf: P.L.2020, c.71, s.13)

3. This act shall take effect immediately.

STATEMENT

This bill allows county clerks to begin canvassing early votes cast during the early voting period, and county boards of elections to begin canvassing mail-in ballots, before election day under certain conditions. However, the bill excludes provisional and emergency ballots from being counted during the early canvassing process for early votes and mail-in ballots:

Under current law, early votes cast during the early voting period may not be canvassed or counted until the polls close on election day. Similarly, mail-in ballots may begin to be canvassed or counted on election day.

Under this bill, county clerks are permitted to begin canvassing each early vote no earlier than 24 hours after the conclusion of the early voting period. The bill also allows county boards of elections to open the inner envelopes of mail-in ballots no earlier than five days prior to election day and may begin canvassing each mail in ballot from the inner envelopes no earlier than three days prior to election day.

The bill provides that the Secretary of State can establish guidelines concerning the canvassing process to ensure the security and secrecy of the votes cast. The canvassing results would remain confidential and be disclosed only in accordance current law, regulations, and guidelines concerning the disclosure of election results. The bill prohibits the disclosure of the canvassing results prior to the close of polls on the day of the election. Under current law for mail-in ballots, 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 is guilty of a crime of the third degree. This bill extends the same penalties to the disclosure of early voting results.

The bill also requires the board of elections to transmit the media for the early vote canvass to the county clerk no later than the opening of the polls on election day. The bill further requires the county board of elections to transmit the media containing the canvass of mail-in results to the county clerk no later than one hour following the close of the polls. The bill also provides, to the extent capable, the scanning and tabulation system for mail-in ballots to restrict the generation of any tabulation or results report to system administrators only and prohibits administrator passwords from being shared.

The bill further prohibits tabulation and results reports from being generated before 8:00 p.m. on the day of the election, and, to the extent such system is capable, requires each county board of elections to submit to the Division of Elections no later than 24 hours following the close of the polls on the day of the election a complete copy of the scanning and tabulation system’s audit log. The bill provides that the results from the early canvassing process for mail-in ballots be reported as a separate columns alongside the columns for election day results and early voting results:

The bill also requires that the county clerks rather than the board of elections certify the results of the votes cast for members of the county committees to the respective municipal clerks following the canvass of mail-in ballots.