Alarming Problems With NJ Bill S1636, Altering Motor Vehicle Commission Voter Registration

TRENTON, N.J. - April 1, 2024 - PRLog -- Senator Andrew Zwicker has introduced a bill in the New Jersey Legislature to alter the process of registering voters during their interactions with the Motor Vehicle Commission.

Linda Hughes, Legislative Chair, New Jersey Association of Election Officials and Administrator, testified against the bill on March 18th:

"We also have significant concerns with this legislation. First and foremost, allowing individuals to register without a providing signature or declaration [of political party] allows one class of political voters to be treated differently, and actually to a lesser standard than other voters. And, aside from being used to verify data, having a signature at (the time of) registration serves as an attestation that the individual is a citizen and (is) eligible to vote.

The legislation calls for MVC to automatically determine, at the time of the transaction, whether the customer is already registered to vote in New Jersey. We do need to point out the reality of our current technological situation - it makes it very unlikely that this key provision can take place.

And finally, the aggressive timeline in this legislation is concerning. We would not want to divert the vendors' attention and efforts away from our priority items to make sure that the 2024 Presidential Election runs smoothly in order to achieve these goals."

Attorney Dana Wefer, who has championed free speech, freedom of medical choice, and election integrity in the state of New Jersey, has also commented on the bill:

"The biggest problem with the bill is its failure to define what documents are proof of citizenship. This is a limited universe of documents and for clarity's sake, they should be listed to avoid confusion, mistakes, and inappropriate discretion.

The next biggest problem with the bill is that it also calls for the Department of Corrections to automatically register criminals to vote as they are released from prison. It is highly likely that a lot of these releasees will not have stable addresses. If the DOC is automatically registering prisoners upon release, what address will they provide? In addition, the question of what documents constitute proof of citizenship is left undefined.

Finally, this bill, because it removes the individual from the active process of registering and affirming their citizenship, creates potential for error and fraudulent voting. MVC workers can make mistakes, and there is no double-checking. Non-citizens who are wrongfully registered to vote may not realize they are ineligible, assuming the state would not register them if they were not eligible. The potential for error and fraudulent voting (accidental and deliberate) is so obvious that the bill's sponsors actually provided that having been wrongfully registered under this section is an affirmative defense to a criminal charge of fraudulent voting."