NJ can protect voting, counter the SAVE Act
By: Allison McLeod
and Alejandra Sorto
Your Turn
Guest columnists
..... In New Jersey, we often take the right to vote for granted. But today, [03/28/2026] that fundamental right faces a sustained and coordinated assault from the highest levels of the federal government.
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The U.S. Supreme Court has steadily eroded the landmark Voting Rights Act, or VRA, gutting key protectionist that civil rights,leaders fought with their lives to establish. Without the full protections of the VRA, the racial turnout gap has grown across the country in the last decade, including in New Jersey.
..... And from day one of the second Trump administration, we have witnessed even more brazen attempts to undermine fair elections and silence voters.
..... amid the Trump administration's efforts to erode constitutional foundations of our democracy, President Donald Trump has personally and persistently urged Congress to pass the SAVE America Act, a bill designed to make it harder to vote. If this bill is passed into law, voters with low incomes, naturalized citizens, voters of color, rural voters, older voters, young voters, voters who changed their name when they married and transgender voters would be disproportionately affected by these restrictions due to financial constraints, mismatched paperwork and other obstacles.
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The bill would also force states to engage in faulty voter roll purges and to turn over private, sensitive voter data to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. that requirement is connected to the trump administration's attempt to cerate an unauthorized and unlawful national voter database and to sue this illicit tool, along with unreliable data-matching and aggregation techniques, to illegal target and challenge voters.
..... The SAVE America Act already passed in the house, and the Senate is poised to vote on it. As the Trump administration ramps up efforts to suppress the right to vote and to silence the voices of working families, especially in communities of color, it's imperative that states take the lead in advancing pro-voter and pro-democracy policies.
State needs a voting rights law
..... One of the ways states can fight back against federal attacks is by passing state-level voting rights acts. These bills have been passed in eight states os far - California, New York, Oregon, Virginia, Connecticut, Washingotn, Minnesota, adn Colorado - and New Jersye can be next.
..... We are calling on the New jersye Legislature to immediately pass the John R. Lewis voter Empowerment Act of New Jersey (A1715/S282). this landmark legislation would restore protection being stripped away at the federal level and tailor them to New Jersey;s unique needs, while portioning new tools to uproot railcard discrimination in voting and prohibiting intimidating and deceptive ppr actives at the polls.
..... The bill did not make it to the governor's desk during New Jersey;s last legislative session, and the urgency of tis passage has only increase due to mounting threats from Trump
administration.
..... New Jersey has the opportunity to serve as a model for other states around the country looking to counteract the federal assault on democracy. We call on leadership in both houses of the Legislature to work swiftly with Governor Mikie Sherrill to get the John R. Lewis voter empowerment Act of New Jersey must reaffirm its commitment to a fair, inclusive, and accessible democracy for all.
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Voting is power and always has been. In this moment of national crisis, New Jersey must send a clear message: We do not shrink form threats to democracy - we expand to protect it. Our communities and our future depend on it.
..... Allison McLeod is the interim executive director of New Jersey League of conservation Voters. The organization advocates for policies and laws to protect clean air, safeguard clean water and ensure equitable access to preserved open space and parks.
..... Alejandra Sorto (she/her/ella) is the associated director of civic engagement at the ACLU of New Jersey, where she oversees organizing and civic engagement efforts at the local and state levels.