Requires circulator of recall petition to take oath by affidavit before officer duly qualified to administer oath.

A1455

ASSEMBLY, No. 1455

STATE OF NEW JERSEY

222nd LEGISLATURE

�

PRE-FILED FOR INTRODUCTION IN THE 2026 SESSION

Sponsored by:

Assemblyman GABRIEL RODRIGUEZ

District 33 (Hudson)

SYNOPSIS

���� Requires circulator of recall petition to take oath
by affidavit before officer duly qualified to administer oath.

CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT

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

��

An Act
concerning the validity requirements for recall
petitions and amending P.L.1995, c.105.

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

���� 1.� Section 9 of P.L.1995,
c.105 (C.19:27A-9) is amended to read as follows:

���� 9.� a.� A circulator of a
recall petition shall not be required to be a registered voter, but shall be
voter eligible, which means at least 18 years of age, a resident of this State,
a citizen of the United States, and not otherwise disqualified under the New
Jersey Constitution.

���� b.���
[
Each
]

To protect
against petition fraud, each
completed page of any section of a recall
petition which is filed with the recall election official shall include at the
bottom of that page an
oath by
affidavit
taken and subscribed before
an officer duly qualified under the laws of New Jersey to administer an oath,
and
signed by the circulator of that section which sets forth the
following:

���� (1)� the printed name of the
circulator;

���� (2)� the address of the
circulator;

���� (3)� a statement that the
circulator assumed responsibility for circulating that section, that the
circulator witnessed the signing of that page by each person whose signature
appears thereon, that, to the best information and belief of the circulator,
the signers are legal residents of the State and of the county in which the
section was circulated, and that the section was circulated in absolute good
faith for the purpose of causing the recall of the elected official named in
the petition;

���� (4)� the dates between which
all signatures to that page were collected;
[
and
]
�

���� (5)� a statement, signed by
the circulator, as to the truth and correctness of the aforesaid information
;
and

����
(6)� the printed name and
signature of the officer duly qualified under the laws of New Jersey who
administered the oath
.

(cf: P.L.2014, c.83, s.6)

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

STATEMENT

���� This bill requires each
circulator of a recall petition to take an oath by affidavit before an officer
duly qualified to administer an oath in this State.

���� Under current law, persons who
circulate petitions to recall an elected official by recall election must sign
an affidavit stating the circulator�s name and address and that the circulator
personally circulated the petition in good faith and witnessed all the
signatures.� However, the circulator is not required to do so in the presence
of an officer qualified to administer an oath.

���� To prevent petition fraud,
this bill would require that the circulator take an oath by affidavit in front
of such an officer, which is the same requirement applicable to petitions
nominating an individual for office at any election.�