S3395

An Act concerning the maintenance and integrity of the Statewide voter registration system, and amending P.L.2005, c.145.

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

1. Section 2 of P.L.2005, c.145 (C.19:31-32) is amended to read as follows:

2. a. The Statewide voter registration system shall replace all other computer or electronic-based registry files of voters and other voter registration files established and maintained by each county commissioner of registration for voter registration and election administration purposes established pursuant to the provisions of Title 19 and Title 40 of the Revised Statutes, and shall be the single system for storing and managing the official file of registered voters throughout the State. A commissioner may, however, continue to use and maintain as a supplement to the system the original and duplicate permanent registration binders and voting records and shall continue to use and maintain the signature copy registers or polling records provided for in Title 19 of the Revised Statutes.

b. Each county commissioner of registration shall be responsible for adding to, deleting from, amending and otherwise conducting on a regular basis maintenance for the files of every legally registered voter in that commissioner's county as contained in the Statewide voter registration system, pursuant to the provisions of [section 303 of Pub.L.107-252 (42 U.S.C. s. 15301 et seq.)] 52 U.S.C. s.21083 and Title 19 of the Revised Statutes. Each commissioner shall be responsible for verifying the accuracy of the name, address and other data of registered voters in the commissioner's respective county as contained in the system. The commissioner who receives the voter registration forms of individuals who have registered to vote in the county or who are re-registering for any reason shall be responsible for entering the information on those forms into the system on an expedited basis, and electronically transferring into the system the information from online voter registration forms completed pursuant to section 1 of P.L.2019, c.382 (C.19:31-6.4c), including but not limited to forms and information received pursuant to chapter 31 of Title 19 of the Revised Statutes. The information the commissioner shall use to update and maintain the system shall be that required by subsection c. of section 1 of P.L.2005, c.145 (C.19:31-31).

c. The Secretary of State and each county commissioner of registration shall be responsible for developing and providing the technological security measures needed to prevent unauthorized access to the Statewide voter registration system established pursuant to section 1 of P.L.2005, c.145 (C.19:31-31) and to the information for any individual on the system required by subsection c. of section 1 of that act.

d. The Secretary of State, in consultation with each county commissioner of registration, shall develop minimum standards to safeguard the accuracy of the files contained in the Statewide voter registration system. Such standards shall include procedures to ensure that reasonable effort is made to remove registrants who are ineligible to vote pursuant to federal or State law and to ensure that eligible voters are not removed in error from the system.

e. (1) The Secretary of State and the Chief Administrator of the New Jersey Motor Vehicle Commission in the Department of Transportation shall enter into an agreement to match information in the database of the Statewide voter registration system with information in the database of the commission, including social security numbers, to the extent required to enable verification of the accuracy of the information provided on applications for voter registration, and to locate and utilize for voter registration purposes the digitized signatures of licensed drivers or holders of non-driver identification cards who register to vote using an online voter registration form, as provided pursuant to section 1 of P.L.2019, c.382 (C.19:31-6.4c).

(2) The Secretary of State shall enter into an agreement with the Commissioner of the Department of Health [and Senior Services] to match information in the database of the Statewide voter registration system with State agency information on death records.

(3) The Secretary of State shall enter into an agreement with the Commissioner of the Department of Corrections to match information in the database of the Statewide voter registration system with State agency information on individuals who are incarcerated, on probation, or on parole as the result of a conviction for an indictable offense.

(4) (a) The Secretary of State shall enter into an agreement with the Administrative Office of the Courts to match information in the database of the Statewide voter registration system with State agency information on individuals who are incarcerated, on probation, or on parole as the result of a conviction for an indictable offense.

(b) Pursuant to the Secretary of State assuming the designation and responsibilities of the chief State election official from the Attorney General in accordance with section 25 of P.L.1994, c.182 (C.19:31-6a) and section 1 of P.L.2007, c.254 (C.52:16A-98), the Secretary of State shall enter into an agreement with the Administrative Office of the Courts to match information in the database of the Statewide voter registration system with the juror records kept, as required by N.J.S.2B:20-9, of all requests for excuses and deferrals of jury duty and grants thereof, so that those persons summoned for jury service who indicate non-citizenship as the basis for being excused may be identified and removed from the database of the Statewide voter registration system as an ineligible registrant in accordance with applicable law. The agreement shall apply retroactively to all available juror records maintained since the enactment of sections 23 and 24 of P.L.1994, c.182 (C.39:3-10m and 39:2-3.2), permitting a person to register to vote while applying for a motor vehicle driver’s license.

(5) The Secretary of State shall enter into an agreement with the State Parole Board to match information in the database of the Statewide voter registration system with State agency information on individuals who are on parole.

(cf: P.L.2019, c.382, s.5)

2. This act shall take effect immediately.

STATEMENT

This bill would require the Secretary of State, as the chief State election official, to enter into an agreement with the Judiciary’s Administrative Office of the Courts to match information in the database of the Statewide voter registration system with the juror records kept pursuant to N.J.S.2B:20-9 concerning all requests for excuses and deferrals of jury duty. The purpose of matching up such information would be to identify those persons summoned for jury service who indicate non-citizenship as the basis for being excused and remove them from the voter database as ineligible registrants in accordance with applicable law.

The agreement would apply retroactively to all available juror records maintained since the 1994 “motor-voter” enactment permitting a person to register to vote while applying for a motor vehicle driver’s license. See sections 23 and 24 of P.L.1994, c.182 (C.39:3-10m and 39:2-3.2).