Establishes "The Voter Convenience Act" to allow voters to vote at any polling place in their municipality on election day.

A1195

ASSEMBLY, No. 1195

STATE OF NEW JERSEY

222nd LEGISLATURE

�

PRE-FILED FOR INTRODUCTION IN THE 2026 SESSION

Sponsored by:

Assemblyman ALEXANDER "AVI" SCHNALL

District 30 (Monmouth and Ocean)

Assemblyman ROBERT J. KARABINCHAK

District 18 (Middlesex)

Assemblyman� GABRIEL RODRIGUEZ

District 33 (Hudson)

SYNOPSIS

���� Establishes "The Voter Convenience Act" to
allow voters to vote at any polling place in their municipality on election
day.

CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT

���� Introduced Pending Technical Review by Legislative
Counsel.

��

An Act
concerning the ability of voters to vote at any polling
place in their municipality on election day, amending R.S.19:6-1, R.S.19:14-22,
and R.S.19:23-31, and supplementing Title 19 of the Revised Statutes.

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

���� 1.��� (New section) This act
shall be known and may be cited as �The Voter Convenience Act.�

���� 2.��� (New section) a.
Notwithstanding any provision of Title 19 of the Revised Statutes, or any other
law, rule, or regulation to the contrary, the Secretary of State in conjunction
with all county clerks and county boards of elections, shall develop uniform guidelines
to enable a county board of elections, at the discretion of the county board,
to implement a process by which the voters of each municipality in that county
may be permitted to cast their vote at any polling place in their municipality
on the day of any election.� Under the process permitted by this section, the
district boards of elections at each polling place in a municipality shall be
organized at the polling place in a manner that permits any member of a
district board to check-in any voter walking into the polling place within
their municipality, using the electronic poll books authorized under P.L.2019,
c.80 (C.19:31-35 et seq.).� The process shall also enable the voter to vote at
any voting machine at the polling place. The uniform guidelines shall develop
the means by which the voter will be provided the correct ballot for that
voter, which shall identify the voter�s election district. To the extent made
possible by available technology, the requirement to issue a voting authority
to each voter pursuant to section 1 P.L.1944, c.213 (C.19:52-2.1) may be
replaced by a suitable procedure.� ��

���� b. In addition to allowing any
voter to vote at any polling place within their municipality, the Secretary of
State in conjunction with all county clerks and county boards of elections may
authorize the uniform guidelines developed pursuant to subsection a. of this
section to be implemented in a manner that enables any voter residing within
each county to cast their vote at designated polling places within their county
of residence on the day of any election.�

���� 3.��� R.S.19:6-1 is amended to
read as follows:

����
19:6-1.
The district
boards in each election district shall consist of four members,� except that
where electronic voting systems are in use any election district in which there
are more than 900 registered voters the district board shall� consist of six
members. The members shall be appointed by the county board of the county in
which such election district is located, in the manner hereinafter provided.

���� In election districts in which
the primary language of 10% or more of the registered voters is Spanish, the
county board shall appoint two additional members who shall be of Hispanic
origin and fluent in Spanish.

����
Notwithstanding any
provision of this section to the contrary, where the provisions of section 1 of
P.L.�� , c.��� (C.�� ) (pending before the Legislature as this bill) are
implemented, the number of district board members shall be determined by the
county board of elections in accordance with the uniform guidelines developed
pursuant thereto.

(cf: P.L.1975, c.316, s.3)

���� 4.��� R.S.19:14-22 is amended
to read as follows:

���� 19:14-22. The official general
election sample ballots shall be as nearly as possible facsimiles of the
official general election ballot to be voted at such election and shall have
printed thereon, after the words which indicate the number of the election
district for which such sample ballots are printed, the name of the school
district, when appropriate, the number or name and municipality or
municipalities of the fire district, when appropriate, the street address or
location of the polling place in the election district
or the polling places
at which the voter may vote where the provisions of section 1 of P.L.�� , c.���
(C.�� ) (pending before the Legislature as this bill) are implemented
, and
the hours between which the polls shall be open.� Such sample ballots shall be
printed on paper different in color from the official general election ballot,
and have the following words printed in large type at the top: "This
ballot cannot be voted.� It is a sample copy of the official general election
ballot used on election day."� The sample ballot shall also state clearly
the days, hours and places at which early voting shall be available in the
county.

(cf: P.L.2021, c.40, s.11)

���� 5.��� R.S.19:23-31 is amended
to read as follows:

���� 19:23-31.� The official
primary sample ballot shall be, as nearly as possible, a facsimile of the
official primary ballot to be voted at the primary election and shall be
printed on paper different in color from the official primary ballot, so that
the same may be readily distinguished from the official primary ballot.� It
shall state clearly the days, hours, and places at which early voting shall be
available in the county.� The official primary sample ballot shall have printed
at the top in large type the words:� "This official primary sample ballot
is an exact copy of the official primary ballot to be used on primary election
day.� This ballot cannot be voted."� The official primary sample ballot
shall also have printed thereon, following the words which indicate the
election district, the following words: "The polling place for this
election district is (Stating the location of said polling place)."
Where
the provisions of section 1 of P.L.�� , c.��� (C.�� ) (pending before the
Legislature as this bill) are implemented, the official primary sample ballot
shall have printed thereon, following the words which indicate the election
district, the following words: "The polling places where you may vote are (Stating
the locations of said polling places)."

(cf: P.L.2021, c.40, s.14)

���� 6.��� This act shall take
effect immediately.

STATEMENT

���� This bill establishes �The
Voter Convenience Act,� to allow voters to vote at any polling place in their
municipality on election day.

���� Under current law, a polling
place is used by the voters of several election districts. When voters walk
into their assigned polling place, they must then go to the table for their
assigned election district, and vote on that district�s voting machine.�

���� Under this bill, the Secretary
of State in conjunction with all county clerks and county boards of elections,
are directed to develop uniform guidelines to enable a county board of
elections, at the discretion of the county board, to implement a process by
which the voters of each municipality in that county may be permitted to cast
their vote at any polling place in their municipality on the day of any
election.� Under the bill, the district boards of elections at each polling
place in a municipality would be organized at the polling place in a manner
that permits any member of a district board to check-in any voter walking into
the polling place within their municipality, using electronic poll books. Under
this process, the voter would be able to vote at any voting machine at the
polling place, using the correct ballot for that voter, which would identify
the voter�s election district. To the extent made possible by available
technology, the requirement to issue a voting authority to each voter would be
replaced by a suitable procedure. The bill would allow this process to also be
used to establish countywide polling places, whereby a voter who is a resident
of that county would be able to cast their vote.

���� This bill also amends current
law to allow the county boards of elections to determine the number of district
board members needed at each polling place where the bill�s provisions are
implemented. The bill also amends current law to include the location of the
polling places under the bill on the primary election and general election
sample ballots.