Sponsored by:
Senator ROBERT W. SINGER
District 30 (Monmouth and Ocean)
Senator CARMEN F. AMATO, JR.
District 9 (Ocean)
SYNOPSIS
Imposes mandatory minimum term of imprisonment for member of district board of elections who willfully allows person to vote when person is not eligible to vote.
CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT
As introduced.
An Act concerning allowing unqualified person to vote and amending R.S.19:34-1.
Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:
1. R.S.19:34-1 is amended to read as follows:
19:34-1. a. If any member of the district board shall willfully refuse to enter in the canvassing books or upon the registers the name of any person legally entitled to vote[, or shall register the name of any person contrary to the provisions of this title], such member shall be guilty of a crime of the third degree.
b. If any member of the district board shall willfully register the name of any person contrary to the provisions of this title, such member shall be guilty of a crime of the third degree and, notwithstanding the provisions of subsection a. of N.J.S.2C:43-6, shall be sentenced to a mandatory minimum term of imprisonment of one year without eligibility for parole, unless the provisions of any other law provide for a higher mandatory minimum term.
c. Any person who shall cause or procure [his] the person’s name to be registered in more than one election district, or shall cause or procure [his] the person’s name or that of any other person to be registered, knowing that [he] the person or such other person is not entitled to vote in the election district wherein such registry is made at the next election to be held therein, shall be punished for each such offense and shall be guilty of a crime of the third degree.
d. No district board shall execute or deliver to any voter any paper in the nature of a transfer, purporting to authorize [him] the person to vote in any other election district unless [he] the person is actually registered as now provided by law.
e. Any officer or employee who shall willfully fail to perform or enforce any of the provisions of this title or who shall unlawfully or fraudulently remove any registration records, or who shall willfully destroy any record directed by this title to be kept, or any person who shall willfully or fraudulently register more than once, or register under any but [his] the person’s true name, or attempt to vote by impersonating another who is registered, or who willfully registers in any election district where [he] the person is not a resident at the time of registering, or who violates any of the provisions of this title, shall be guilty of a crime of the third degree.
(cf: P.L.2005, c.154, s.20)
2. This act shall take effect
immediately.
STATEMENT
This bill imposes a mandatory minimum term of imprisonment for a member of the district board of elections convicted of the crime of knowingly allowing a person to vote when the person is not eligible to vote. Under current law, this offense is a crime of the third degree. A crime of the third degree is generally punishable by a term of imprisonment of three to five years, a fine of up to $15,000, or both. The bill requires the defendant to be sentenced to a mandatory minimum term of imprisonment of one year without eligibility for parole, unless the provisions of any other law provide for a higher mandatory minimum term.