Two new state bills address ballots and electioneering
By: Katie Sobko
NorthJersey.com
USA Today Network - New Jersey
..... Two election-related bills passed the state Senate on Monday [03/24/2025] afternoon. One makes it illegal for someone transporting another person;s mail-in ballot to be paid, and the second lets each county board of elections expand electioneering boundaries around polling places.
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The bearer bill sponsored by state Senator Gordon Johnson, D-Englewood, prohibits any person from being paid or offered goods or services to be a messenger or a bearer of vote-by-mail ballots.
..... The current law authorizes messengers to deliver blank mail-in ballots to qualified voters who are either family members or residents of the same county, often elderly or disabled members of the community.
..... After the ballot is completed, a bearer can return a limited number of ballots to a ballot drop box, a regular mailbox or the county board of elections.
..... This bill would formally make it a criminal act to be paid or receive gifts, goods or services to be a messenger or bearer of ballots in New Jersey.
..... Johnson said the bill was a "step to ensure that the people of New Jersey are fully aware the election system is fair and accurate."
..... It'll build confidence among voters as the voting process," he said. "It can have a certain negative connotation when you're paying people to collect signatures."
..... That bill passed with a vote total of 30-8.
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The second bill, sponsored by Senator Prettiness Nick Scutari, D-Union, and state Senator Bob Smith, d-Middlesex, would allow count boards of elections to extend the distance restricting electioneer from 100 feet to 200 feet of the outside entrance to any polling place or room or of a ballot drop box i use during the conduct of an election within the county.
..... Scutari said this is in part because of the physical restrictions surrounding some polling locations.
..... "It's not mandatory. It's optional," he said. "the local election boards feel that it would be in the best interest to have it that way where they push the barriers a little further back."
..... State Senator Kristin Corrado, D-Totowa, voted against this bill because she believes it should be uniform, as oppose to varying by county.
..... The bill passed with a vote total of 31-8.