SENATE STATE GOVERNMENT, WAGERING, TOURISM & HISTORIC PRESERVATION COMMITTEE

STATEMENT TO

SENATE, No. 1218

with committee amendments

STATE OF NEW JERSEY

DATED:  FEBRUARY 1, 2018

The Senate State Government, Wagering, Tourism and Historic Preservation Committee reports favorably and with committee amendments Senate Bill No. 1218.

     This bill, designated as the “New Voter Empowerment Act,” permits any registered voter who is 17 years of age prior to the date on which a primary election for the general election is held to vote in that primary election if the registered voter attains 18 years of age on or before the day of the next succeeding general election. As amended by the committee, the bill creates an exemption in a provision of current law that requires 17-year-old registrants in the Statewide voter registration system to be marked as temporarily ineligible to vote until the registrant's 18th birthday, in order to allow 17-year-old registrants to vote in the primary election if they will be 18 on or before the general election day.

COMMITTEE AMENDMENTS

      Current law provides that each 17-year-old registrant shall be designated in the Statewide voter registration system as temporarily ineligible to vote until the registrant's 18th birthday. The committee amended the bill to create an exemption to this provision for 17-year-old registrants to vote in the primary election if they will be 18 on or before the general election day.