SENATE, No. 1643

 

STATE OF NEW JERSEY

 

INTRODUCED OCTOBER 28, 1996

 

 

By Senator RICE

 

 

An Act concerning certain wrongful acts in the conduct of voter registration and elections, imposing or revising criminal penalties therefor, and amending various parts of the statutory law.

 

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

 

    1. R.S.19:34-1 is amended to read as follows:

    19:34-1. If any member of the district board shall willfully refuse to enter in the canvassing books or upon the registers the name of any person legally entitled to vote, or shall register the name of any person contrary to the provisions of this title, such member shall be punished by a fine not exceeding one thousand dollars, or by imprisonment not exceeding two years, or both.

    Any person who shall [cause or procure his name to be registered] register as a voter in more than one election district, or shall register as a voter or cause or procure [his name or that] the registration of any other person [to be registered] as a voter, knowing that [he or such other] the person so registered is not entitled to vote in the election district [wherein such registry is made] from which the applicant seeks to be registered as a voter at the next election to be held therein, and any public officer responsible for the registration of voters who accepts or approves the application of a person to register as a voter with the knowledge that such acceptance or approval will result in the registration of the applicant as a voter in more than one election district or in an election district in which the applicant is not entitled to vote at the next election to be held therein, shall be punished for each such offense by a fine not exceeding one thousand dollars, or imprisonment for a term of not [exceeding] less than one year and not more than five years, or both.

    No district board shall execute or deliver to any voter any paper in the nature of a transfer, purporting to authorize [him] that voter to vote in any other election district unless [he] the voter is actually registered as now provided by law.

    Any officer or employee who shall willfully fail to perform or enforce any of the provisions of this title or who shall unlawfully or fraudulently remove any registration records, or who shall willfully destroy any record directed by this title to be kept, or any person who shall willfully or fraudulently register more than once, or register under any but [his] the person's true name, or attempt to vote by impersonating another who is registered, or who willfully registers in any election district where [he] the person is not a resident at the time of registering, or who violates any of the provisions of this title, [shall be] is guilty of a [misdemeanor] crime of the fourth degree. In the case of any member of the district board who, at any time during an election in which that member has charge of the duplicate permanent registration binder or poll list, as the case may be, who fails to require a person seeking to vote in the election to sign the binder or poll list in the appropriate place, or who fails to make a comparison of that signature with the person's signature on the duplicate permanent registration form, shall be subject to imprisonment for a term of not less than one year.

(cf: R.S.19:34-1)

 

    2. R.S.19:34-2 is amended to read as follows:

    19:34-2. a. No person shall falsely make, falsely make oath to, or fraudulently deface or fraudulently destroy any certificate of nomination or petition, or any part thereof[, or]. No person who, by reason of residence, status as a registered voter, or otherwise, is ineligible to indorse such a certificate of nomination or petition shall, knowing of that ineligibility, indorse such a certificate or petition. No person shall circulate for indorsement, file, or receive for filing, any certificate of nomination or petition, knowing the same or any part thereof to be falsely made, or that the candidate indorsed therein is unqualified by reason of age, residence, or any other reason to be elected to or to hold the office for which that candidate is so indorsed, or that any person who shall have indorsed the certificate or petition is ineligible by reason of residence, status as a registered voter, or otherwise to make such an indorsement. No person shall suppress any certificate of nomination or petition which has been duly filed, or any part thereof. A person violating any of the provisions of this [section shall be] subsection is guilty of a [misdemeanor] crime of the third degree, and shall be punished by imprisonment for not less than one year and not more than five years.

    b. Any person who, being a member of one political party, shall sign [his name to] any petition indorsing any person as a candidate for office of another political party, [shall be] is guilty of a [misdemeanor] crime of the fourth degree.


    c. Any person who has been indorsed in a petition under the provisions of this Title as a candidate for the nomination of a political party for, or as a nominee for election to, elective public office, and who accepts that indorsement for party nomination or election knowing that the person is unqualified by reason of age, residence, or any other reason to be elected to or to hold that public office, and any person who, without having been so indorsed as a candidate in such a petition, is nominated at the primary election for or elected at the general or any other election to elective public office notwithstanding that the name of the person shall not have appeared on the ballot at the election, and who accepts the nomination for or election to the public office knowing that the person is unqualified to be elected to or to hold that public office, is guilty of a crime of the fourth degree and, in addition to any fine imposed as otherwise provided by law, shall be punished by imprisonment for a term of not less than one year.

(cf: R.S.19:34-2)

 

    3. R.S.19:34-11 is amended to read as follows:

    19:34-11. Every person not entitled to vote who fraudulently votes, every person who votes without having signed the duplicate permanent registration binder or poll list, as the case may be, or who signs that binder or poll list with the name of another, and every person who votes more than once at any one election; or knowingly hands in two or more ballots folded together; or changes any ballot after it has been deposited in the ballot box; or adds, or attempts to add, any ballot to those legally polled at any election, either by fraudulently introducing the same into the ballot box before or after the ballots therein have been counted; or adds to or mixes with, or attempts to add to or mix with, the ballots lawfully polled, other ballots while the same are being counted or canvassed, or at any other time, with intent to change the result of such election; or carries away or destroys, or attempts to carry away or destroy, any poll list, or ballots, or ballot box, for the purpose of breaking up or invalidating the election; or willfully detains, mutilates or destroys any election returns; or in any manner so interferes with the officers holding the election, or conducting the canvass, or with the voters lawfully exercising their rights of voting at the election, as to prevent the election or canvass from being fairly had and lawfully conducted, shall be guilty of a [misdemeanor] crime of the fourth degree and, in addition to any fine imposed as otherwise provided by law, shall be punished by imprisonment for a term of not less than one year.

(cf: P.L.1948, c.438, s.14)

 

    4. R.S.19:34-12 is amended to read as follows:

    19:34-12. Every person not entitled to vote who fraudulently attempts to vote, or who being entitled to vote attempts to vote more than once at any election, or who personates or attempts to personate a person legally entitled to vote, [shall be] is guilty of a [misdemeanor] crime of the fourth degree and, in addition to any fine imposed as otherwise prescribed by law, shall be punished by imprisonment for a term of not less than one year.

(cf: P.L.1948, c.438, s.15)

 

    5. R.S.19:34-20 is amended to read as follows:

    19:34-20. [Whoever] A person who shall [solicit the registering of his name] seek to be registered on the registry list of any election district or precinct, knowing that [he] the person is not a legal voter in such district or precinct; or shall willfully counsel, procure, aid, advise, assist or abet in the registering of the name of any other person on the registry list of any election district or precinct, knowing such other person is not entitled to vote therein; or at any election, knowing that [he] the other person is not a qualified voter, votes thereat; or at any election votes or attempts to vote more than once on [his] the person's own name; or at any election votes or attempts to vote in more than one election district or precinct; or at any election votes or attempts to vote upon any other name than [his] the person's own; or knowingly casts or attempts to cast more than one ballot at one time by balloting; or at any election counsels, procures, aids, advises, assists or abets any person, knowing that [he] that person is not a qualified voter, to vote thereat; or at any election counsels, procures, aids, advises, assists or abets any person in voting in more than one election district or precinct; or at any election counsels, procures, aids, advises, assists or abets any person to vote or to attempt to vote upon any name other than [his] that person's own, or knowingly cast or attempt to cast more than one ballot at one time of voting; or at any election shall in any way willfully mark or deface [his] the ballot, or shall willfully counsel, procure, aid, advise, assist or abet any person in the marking or defacing of a ballot; or at any election shall in any way counsel, procure, aid, advise, assist or abet any official or person in any act which is contrary to the provisions of this title; or at any election shall in any way willfully hinder or prevent a voter from casting [his] a legal vote, knowing such person to have a right to vote; or shall willfully tamper with, injure, mutilate, destroy or render unfit for use, any ballot box; [shall be] is guilty of a [misdemeanor] crime of the third degree and punishable by a fine of five hundred dollars, or imprisonment [in state prison] for [the] a term of not less than one year and not more than three years, or both.

(cf: R.S.19:34-20)

 

    6. This act shall take effect immediately.


STATEMENT

 

    This bill amends various provisions of Title 19, the New Jersey election code, imposing criminal penalties for misconduct relating to the voter registration and election processes.

    Under the bill, such penalties are specifically imposed upon the following persons:

    (1) A voter registration officer who accepts or approves an application to register as a voter, knowing that the applicant is not qualified to vote in the district from which registration is sought;

    (2) A person ineligible to sign a nominating petition who nonetheless does so while knowing of the ineligibility;

    (3) A person who circulates a nominating petition, or a filing official who accepts such a nominating petition for filing, knowing that the candidate nominated therein is unqualified for the office sought or that the petition has been indorsed by a person ineligible to do so;

    (4) A person who, though not qualified for a particular public office, nonetheless accepts a petition indorsement, or nomination or election as a write-in candidate, for that office while knowing of that failure of qualification;

    (5) A district board member responsible for requiring prospective voters to sign the signature comparison record and for comparing the voter's signature with the signature on file in the registration record who fails to do either of those things; and

    (6) A person who votes without having signed the appropriate signature comparison record or signs that record with the name of another.

    The bill establishes a minimum penalty of one year's imprisonment on each of these forms of misconduct and extends this one-year minimum to other forms of election-related misconduct already prohibited by law.

 

 

                             

Imposes or revises criminal penalties for certain wrongful acts in connection with voter registration and elections.