SENATE STATE GOVERNMENT COMMITTEE

STATEMENT TO

SENATE, No. 1176

STATE OF NEW JERSEY

DATED: JANUARY 23, 1997

      The Senate State Government Committee reports favorably Senate, No. 1176.

      The purpose of this bill is to permit a voter who is a member of a political party and who does not vote in the last preceding primary election of that party to be able to vote at the next primary election of another party and to be deemed a member of such other political party.

      The bill also changes from the 50th day to the 35th day before a primary election the date on which a voter must be deemed to be a member of a political party in order to vote in the primary election of that political party, with certain exceptions.

      The bill effectuates these provisions by reorganizing the sections of current law that govern who may be deemed a member of a political party to provide that no voter may vote in a primary election of a political party unless he was deemed to be a member of that party on the 35th day next preceding such primary election except:

      1) a newly registered voter who is voting at the first primary at which he is eligible to vote;

      2) a registered voter who has not previously voted in a primary election; or

      3) a voter who is a member of another political party but did not vote in the last preceding primary election of that political party.