Bill Text: NJ A4002 | 2024-2025 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Prohibits acceptance, offer, or provision of consideration for mail-in ballot messengers or bearers.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)
Status: (Introduced) 2024-03-07 - Introduced, Referred to Assembly State and Local Government Committee [A4002 Detail]
Download: New_Jersey-2024-A4002-Introduced.html
Sponsored by:
Assemblyman STERLEY S. STANLEY
District 18 (Middlesex)
SYNOPSIS
Prohibits acceptance, offer, or provision of consideration for mail-in ballot messengers or bearers.
CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT
As introduced.
An Act prohibiting acceptance, offer, or provision of consideration to a mail-in ballot messenger or bearer and amending P.L.2009, c.79.
Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:
1. Section 4 of P.L.2009, c.79 (C.19:63-4) is amended to read as follows:
4. a. A qualified voter is entitled to apply for and obtain a mail-in ballot by authorized messenger, who shall be so designated over the signature of the voter and whose printed name and address shall appear on the application in the space provided. The authorized messenger shall be a family member or a registered voter of the county in which the application is made and shall place his or her signature on the application in the space so provided in the presence of the county clerk or the designee thereof. No person shall serve as an authorized messenger or as a bearer for more than three qualified voters in an election, except that an authorized messenger or bearer may serve as such for up to five qualified voters in an election if those voters are immediate family members residing in the same household as the messenger or bearer. No person who is a candidate in the election for which the voter requests a mail-in ballot shall be permitted to serve as an authorized messenger or bearer. The authorized messenger shall show a photo identification card to the county clerk, or the designee thereof, at the time the messenger submits the application form. The county clerk or the designee thereof shall authenticate the signature of the authorized messenger in the event such a person is other than a family member, by comparing it with the signature of the person appearing on a State of New Jersey driver's license, or other identification issued or recognized as official by the federal government, the State, or any of its political subdivisions, providing the identification carries the full address and signature of the person. After the authentication of the signature on the application, the county clerk or the designee thereof is authorized to deliver to the authorized messenger a ballot to be delivered to the qualified voter.
b. The Secretary of State shall cause to be prepared a standard authorized messenger application form, which may be included with the mail-in ballot application forms. The authorized messenger section of the application shall contain the following language above the signature of the authorized messenger: "I do hereby certify that I will deliver the mail-in ballot directly to the voter and no other person, under penalty of law."
c. No person who serves as an authorized messenger or as a bearer shall accept consideration of any sort to serve, nor shall any person offer or give consideration of any sort to an authorized messenger or a bearer to serve. As used in this subsection, "consideration" means, but shall not be limited to, cash, goods, services, or intangible property.
(cf: P.L.2020, c.71, s.6)
2. This act shall take effect immediately.
STATEMENT
This bill prohibits the acceptance, offer, or provision of consideration to a mail-in ballot messenger or bearer.
Under current law, messengers are authorized through an application process to deliver blank mail-in ballots to qualified voters who are either family members or residents of the same county. Once a ballot is completed by a voter, a bearer may deliver a limited number of voter ballots from voters back to the county board of elections, to a ballot drop box, or to a regular mailbox. Under this bill, no person who serves as an authorized messenger or as a bearer will be permitted to accept consideration of any sort. No person will be permitted to offer or give consideration of any sort to an authorized messenger or bearer. Consideration means, but is not limited to, cash or the purchase of goods, services, or intangible property.
