SENATE STATE GOVERNMENT COMMITTEE

STATEMENT TO

SENATE, No. 686

STATE OF NEW JERSEY

DATED: FEBRUARY 22, 1996

      The Senate State Government Committee reports without recommendation Senate, No. 686.

      This bill revises the statute providing for designation of the chairman and secretary of the county board of elections in the event that the board is unable to fill either or both of those positions by election.

      Under current law, in the event of such a failure to elect a chairman, the board's senior member in age is to be chairman, and in the event of such a failure to elect a secretary, the next senior member in age is to become secretary, subject to the condition that the chairman and secretary may not be members of the same political party.

      Under the bill, in the event of failure by the board to elect a chairman, the member having greatest seniority on the board is to be chairman of the board. In the event of failure to elect a secretary, the member of the board having the greatest seniority is to be secretary, except that if the member has been elected or designated to the position of chairman, the member with the next greatest seniority is to be secretary, still subject to the condition that the chairman and secretary may not be members of the same political party.

      The bill provides that, for the purposes of the legislation, a member's seniority on the county board of elections is to be determined by the total amount of time that the person has served as a member of the board, beginning from the date and time that the person took the oath of office as a member.