Read the full stored bill text
A4108
ASSEMBLY, No. 4108
STATE OF NEW JERSEY
222nd LEGISLATURE
�
INTRODUCED FEBRUARY 19, 2026
Sponsored by:
Assemblywoman� CAROL A. MURPHY
District 7 (Burlington)
SYNOPSIS
���� Provides for excused absences for public school
students involved in election activities on day of general election under
certain circumstances.
CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT
���� As introduced.
��
An Act
concerning excused absences from public school and amending P.L.2001, c.271,
R.S.19:15-8, and R.S.19:34-6.
����
Be It Enacted
by the Senate and General Assembly of
the State of New Jersey:
���� 1.��� Section 1 of P.L.2001,
c.271 (C.18A:36-33) is amended to read as follows:
���� 1.���
a.
�
Notwithstanding any law, rule or regulation to the contrary, any pupil of any
public school who serves as a member of a district board of election on the day
of any election, pursuant to R.S.19:6-1 et seq., and attends required
instructional sessions related to such membership, pursuant to R.S.19:50-1 et
seq., shall have his or her absence for those reasons recorded as excused
absences on that pupil's attendance record or on that of any group or class of
which the pupil is a member upon the presentation of such documentation as the
superintendent or administrative principal, as the case may be, deems necessary
to prove the pupil served as a member of a district board on the day of an
election or attended required instructional sessions.
����
b.��� Notwithstanding any
law, rule or regulation to the contrary, any pupil over the age of 14 years of
any public school shall have his absence on the day of the general election in
this State recorded as an excused absence on that pupil's attendance record, or
on that of any group or class of which the pupil is a member, upon the
presentation of documentation proving the pupil served as a volunteer for
election-related activity on the day of the general election.� The
documentation shall be in such form and shall contain such information as the
superintendent or administrative principal, as the case may be, shall deem to
be necessary.� The information in the documentation shall include, but need not
be limited to, a signature of a person over the age of 18 years who supervised
the pupil's activity, the organizers of the activity, a brief description of
the nature of the activity, the time during which the pupil took part in the
activity, and a certification that the activity was not undertaken directly or
indirectly for the benefit of one or more political parties to the exclusion of
other political parties.� The board of education may deny such excused absences
for pupils whose academic achievement is below a level set by the board of
education for this purpose.
����
As used in this subsection,
"election-related activity" means: observing the polling or
canvassing process, participating in simulated voting, assisting in the
transportation of voters to polling places, or participating in any other
activity that has been specifically approved in advance by the board of
education governing that public school, as part of a group or a program
organized by a recognized nonprofit organization, by a board of education, or
by educators within the public educational system of this State, not undertaken
directly or indirectly for the benefit or under the auspices of one or more
political parties to the exclusion of other political parties, and for which
the pupil volunteered and received compensation or reimbursement for expenses
no greater than $100.
(cf: P.L.2001, c.271, s.1)
���� 2.��� R.S.19:15-8 is amended
to read as follows:
���� 19:15-8.����� a.�
No person shall be allowed or permitted to be present in the polling place or
polling room during the progress of the election except the officers connected
with the election, persons connected with the operation of a simulated election
for minors as described in subsection b. of this section, the several
candidates, the duly authorized challengers, such voters as are present for the
purpose of voting and their dependent children, minors present for the purpose
of voting in a simulated election,
public school pupils pursuant to
subsection b. of section 1 of P.L.2001, c.271 (C.18A:36-33),
and such
officers as may be duly detailed to be present, pursuant to this title, for
preserving the peace or enforcing the provisions hereof.
���� b.��� A county board of
elections may authorize a simulated election for minors at a polling place,
provided the simulated election does not interfere with the orderly conduct of
the official voting process.
(cf: P.L.2000, c.173, s.1)
���� 3.��� R.S.19:34-6 is amended
to read as follows:
���� 19:34-6. a. If a person shall
on election day tamper, deface or interfere with any polling booth or obstruct
the entrance to any polling place, or obstruct or interfere with any voter, or
loiter in or near the polling place, or, with the purpose to obstruct or
interfere with any voter or to unduly delay other voters from voting, spend an
inordinate amount of time in the polling booth, or do any electioneering within
any polling place or within one hundred feet thereof, or within 200 feet
thereof if the electioneering prohibition is extended at the discretion of a
county board of elections, he shall be guilty of a crime of the third degree.
���� b.��� This section shall not
be construed to prohibit a minor from entering a polling place on the day of an
election to vote in a simulated election at that polling place, or persons from
supervising or working at a polling place in a simulated election in which
minors vote, provided that the county board of elections has determined that
the polling place can accommodate simulated election activities without
interfering with the orderly conduct of the official voting process.
This
section shall not be construed to prohibit the presence of public school pupils
at a polling place on the day of an election pursuant to subsection b. of
section 1 of P.L.2001, c.271 (C.18A:36-33).
(cf: P.L.2025, c.92, s.2)
���� 4.��� This act shall take
effect immediately.
STATEMENT
���� This bill would permit any
pupil over the age of 14 years of any public school to take an excused absence
from school on the day of the general election in this State upon the
presentation of documentation proving that the pupil served as a volunteer for
election-related activity on the day of the general election.� This bill
defines "election-related activity" to mean:
���� observing the polling or
canvassing process, participating in simulated voting, assisting in the
transportation of voters to polling places, or participating in any other
activity that has been specifically approved in advance by the board of
education governing that public school,
���� as part of a group or a
program organized by a recognized nonprofit organization, by a board of
education, or by educators within the public educational system of this State,
���� not undertaken directly or
indirectly for the benefit or under the auspices of one or more political
parties to the exclusion of other political parties, and
���� for which the pupil
volunteered and received compensation or reimbursement for expenses no greater
than $100.
���� The absence would be granted
upon submission of documentation which would include a signature of a person
over the age of 18 years who supervised the pupil's activity, the organizers of
the activity, a brief description of the nature of the activity, the time
during which the pupil took part in the activity, and a certification that the
activity was not undertaken directly or indirectly for the benefit of one or
more political parties to the exclusion of other political parties.� The board
of education may deny such excused absences for pupils whose academic
achievement is below a level set by the board of education for this purpose.
���� The purpose of this
legislation is to promote participation in the election process among young
people who are just a few years from becoming eligible to vote, thus fostering
their understanding of the importance of voting, of their rights as citizens, and
of their civic responsibility.���