Removes provisions for acceptance of mail-in ballots received after election day; increases penalties for violation of ballot messenger and bearer limits and candidate prohibition.

A207

ASSEMBLY, No. 207

STATE OF NEW JERSEY

222nd LEGISLATURE

�

PRE-FILED FOR INTRODUCTION IN THE 2026 SESSION

Sponsored by:

Assemblywoman DAWN FANTASIA

District 24 (Morris, Sussex and Warren)

SYNOPSIS

���� Removes provisions for acceptance of mail-in ballots
received after election day; increases penalties for violation of ballot
messenger and bearer limits and candidate prohibition.

CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT

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

��

An Act
concerning the mail-in ballot acceptance deadline and
the penalties for certain violations of the ballot messenger and bearer
provisions and amending P.L.2009, c.79.

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

���� 1.��� Section 22 of P.L.2009,
c.79 (C.19:63-22) is amended to read as follows:

���� 22. a. On the day of each
election, or as provided under subsection b. of this section, each county board
of elections shall open in the presence of the commissioner of registration, or
the designee thereof, the inner envelopes that contain the mail-in ballots with
the votes cast for the election.� The inner envelopes containing the ballots
that the board or the Superior Court has rejected shall not be so opened, but
shall be retained as provided for by this act.� The board shall then proceed to
canvass the votes cast on the mail-in ballots, but no such ballot shall be
counted in any primary election for the general election if the ballot of the
political party marked for voting thereon differs from the designation of the
political party in the primary election of which such ballot is intended to be
voted as marked on the envelope by the county board of elections.

����
[
Every mail-in ballot that bears a
postmark date before or of the day of the election and that is received by the
county board within 144 hours after the time of the closing of the polls for
the election that the ballot was prepared shall be considered valid and shall
be canvassed.� Every mail-in ballot that does not bear a postmark date but that
is received by the county board by delivery of the United States Postal Service
before, or within 48 hours after, the time of the closing of the polls for the
election for which the ballot was prepared shall be considered valid and shall
be canvassed.
]
�

���� b.��� A county board of
elections may begin opening the inner envelopes for each mail-in ballot and
canvassing each mail-in ballot from the inner envelope no earlier than five
days prior to the day of the election.� The Secretary of State shall establish
guidelines concerning the early canvassing process.� If a county board of
elections begins opening the inner envelopes and canvassing the mail-in ballots
from the inner envelopes prior to the day of the election, the county board
shall implement the measures necessary to ensure the security and secrecy of
the mail-in ballots.� The contents of the mail-in ballots and the results of
the ballot canvassing shall remain confidential and shall be disclosed only in
accordance with the provisions of Title 19 of the Revised Statutes, regulations
and guidelines concerning the disclosure of election results, and in no
circumstances disclosed prior to the close of polls on the day of the
election.� In addition to the guidelines concerning the early canvassing
process, the Secretary of State shall promulgate regulations to ensure that any
county board of elections that begins opening the inner envelopes and
canvassing the mail-in ballots from the inner envelopes prior to the closing of
the polls on election day shall do so in a manner that prevents any person,
including any person who is authorized to receive and canvass completed mail-in
ballots, from obtaining knowledge of the unofficial results of ballots cast for
any candidate for public office or any public question submitted to the voters
until after the closing of the polls on election day.� No tally or tabulation
of results shall occur prior to the opening of polls on election day.� As
provided under R.S.19:34-13, any person who is authorized to receive and
canvass completed mail-in-ballots who knowingly discloses to the public the
contents of a mail-in ballot prior to the time designated by law for the
closing of the polls for each election shall be guilty of a crime of the third
degree.

���� c.���� Immediately after the
canvass is completed, the respective county boards of election shall certify
the result of the canvass to the county clerk or the municipal or district
clerk or other appropriate officer, as the case may be, showing the result of
the canvass by municipality and ward.� The votes thus canvassed shall be
counted in determining the result of the election.

���� The county board of elections
shall, immediately after the canvass is completed for any primary election,
certify the results of the votes cast for members of the county committees to
the respective municipal clerks, and those votes shall be counted in determining
the result of the election.

���� Each mail-in ballot cast,
canvassed, and tallied in an election under this section, excluding a fire
district election, shall be reported in the results for the election district
in which the voter resides.� Whenever the reporting requirement of this subsection
would cause a voter's privacy to be violated, the election results shall be
reported in a manner that maintains the privacy of the vote.

(cf: P.L.2022, c.70, s.7)

���� 2.��� Section 28 of P.L.2009,
c.79 (C.19:63-28) is amended to read as follows:

���� 28.� a.� Any person who
knowingly violates any of the provisions of P.L.2009, c.79 (C.19:63-1 et al.),
or who, not being entitled to vote thereunder, fraudulently votes or attempts
to vote thereunder, or enables or attempts to enable another person not entitled
to vote thereunder to vote fraudulently thereunder, or who prevents or attempts
to prevent by fraud the voting of any person legally entitled to vote under
this act, or who shall knowingly certify falsely in any paper required under
this act, or who, at any time, tampers with any ballot or document used in an
election or interferes with the secrecy of the voting of any person, is guilty
of a crime of the third degree, and upon conviction thereof shall be subject,
in addition to such other penalties as are authorized by law, to
disenfranchisement while serving a sentence of incarceration, unless and until
pardoned or restored by law to the right of suffrage.

���� b.��� Any person who knowingly
aids and abets another in violating any of the provisions of this section is
guilty of a crime of the third degree and upon conviction thereof shall be
subject, in addition to such other penalties as are authorized by law, to disenfranchisement
while serving a sentence of incarceration, unless and until pardoned or
restored by law to the right of suffrage.

����
c.���� Notwithstanding the
provisions of this section to the contrary, any person who knowingly violates the
provisions of P.L.2009, c.79 (C.19:63-1 et al.) that prohibit a person from
serving as an authorized messenger or as a bearer for more than three qualified
voters in an election, and that prohibit a person who is a candidate in the
election for which the voter requests a mail-in ballot from serving as an authorized
messenger or bearer, is guilty of a crime of the second degree, and upon
conviction thereof shall be subject, in addition to such other penalties as are
authorized by law, to disenfranchisement, unless and until pardoned or restored
by law to the right of suffrage.

(cf: P.L.2019, c.270, s.10)

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

STATEMENT

���� This bill removes the
provision of current law that allows for mail-in ballots to be counted if
received within 144-hours after the polls closed and are postmarked by election
day.� This bill also removes the provision of current law that allows for mail-in
ballots to be counted if received by the county board 48-hours after the polls
close.� This bill increases the penalties for the violation of the ballot
messenger and bearer limits and the prohibition against candidates acting as
messengers or bearers.

���� Under current law, every
mail-in ballot that is postmarked by election day and that is received by the
county board of elections within 144 hours after the time of the closing of the
polls is considered valid and is required to be canvassed and every mail-in
ballot received by the county board of elections within 48-hours after the time
of the closing of the polls, whether it bears a postmark or not, is considered
valid and is required to be canvassed.� This bill removes both of these
timeframes.� Therefore, mail-in ballots received after the polls close would
not be counted.

���� Current law also provides that
a person may act as a ballot messenger or a bearer for up to three voters in an
election. Messengers deliver blank ballots to eligible voters, and bearers
return completed ballots to election officials on behalf of eligible voters.
The law prohibits candidates from serving as messengers or bearers. Under
current law, a person who violates these provisions is guilty of a crime of the
third degree and, upon conviction, is subject, in addition to such other
penalties as are authorized by law, to disenfranchisement, unless and until
pardoned or restored by law to the right of suffrage.

���� This bill provides that any person
who knowingly violates the law by serving as an authorized messenger or as a
bearer for more than three qualified voters in an election, and any candidate
serving as a messenger or bearer in the election for which the voter requests a
mail-in ballot, is guilty of a crime of the second degree and, upon conviction,
is subject, in addition to such other penalties as are authorized by law, to
disenfranchisement, unless and until pardoned or restored by law to the right
of suffrage.