Condemns federal efforts aimed at restricting voting and urges federal government to protect Americans' voting rights.*

SR97 SR99 SCS

SENATE COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE FOR

SENATE RESOLUTION Nos. 97 and 99

STATE OF NEW JERSEY

222nd LEGISLATURE

�
ADOPTED
MAY 21, 2026

Sponsored by:

Senator� JOHN F. MCKEON

District 27 (Essex and Passaic)

Senator� RAJ MUKHERJI

District 32 (Hudson)

Co-Sponsored by:

Senators Timberlake, Wimberly, Gopal and Greenstein

SYNOPSIS

���� Condemns federal efforts aimed at restricting voting
and urges federal government to protect Americans� voting rights.

CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT

���� Substitute as adopted by the Senate State Government,
Wagering, Tourism & Historic Preservation Committee.

��

A Senate Resolution
strongly condemning federal efforts
aimed at restricting voting and urging the federal government to protect Americans�
right to vote.

Whereas,
Any effort to prevent eligible citizens of the
United States from voting undermines democracy and is an affront to American
ideals, yet, President Trump and Congress are pursuing efforts to make voting
less accessible to Americans across the country; and

Whereas,

On March 31, 2026, President Trump issued Executive Order 14399 on mail-in
voting that attempts to impose new federal controls over how states administer
elections, including creating federal citizenship lists, establishing new
mail-in ballot transmission rules, and threatening enforcement against state
and local election officials; and

Whereas,

The Trump administration is once again overstepping its authority in an attempt
to control an election process that the United States Constitution clearly
delegates to the states and to Congress; and

Whereas,

Federal courts have blocked key portions of the Trump administration�s 2025
elections Executive Order 14248, concluding that the President lacks the
authority to direct federal election administration in areas reserved to the
states and to Congress; and

Whereas,

Now, the Trump administration is ordering the United States Department of
Homeland Security, in consultation with the Social Security Administration, to
use various databases and information sources to compile lists of United States
citizens residing in each state who will be 18 years or older at the time of
the next election; and

Whereas,

These databases contain sensitive information and any data matching would need
to proceed with the utmost concern for data privacy and security, a process
that would take years, not the few months that the order requires; and

Whereas,

The use of incomplete or mismatched federal databases to create a federal
citizenship list risks disenfranchising eligible voters, including elderly
citizens, citizens with limited mobility, citizens who lack reliable
transportation, naturalized citizens, members of the military, and other
citizens legally entitled to vote under state and federal law, but whose
information, including citizenship status, may be missing from these databases;
and

Whereas,

Executive Order 14399 requires states to provide the names of registered voters
who are eligible to receive mail-in ballots to the United States Postal Service
(USPS) in advance of each regularly scheduled federal election; and

Whereas,

This executive order inserts a non-election agency into a sensitive role in the
election process by ordering the USPS to withhold ballots from people who are
not on the states� lists of voters eligible to receive mail-in ballots; and

Whereas,

State and local officials who do not comply with the order are threatened with
a loss of federal funds and legal consequences, which unjustly pressures and
attempts to coerce states into adopting these cumbersome and unnecessary
procedures that disrupt the voting process; and

Whereas,

Congress is considering the �SAVE America Act,� which would mandate that every
person provide documentary proof of citizenship, such as a birth certificate,
certificate of naturalization, or American passport when registering to vote in
federal elections and to provide photo identification that matches the
citizenship documentation when voting; and

Whereas,

Many Americans, including married women, have changed their names since birth
and, as a result, now have photo identification with names that do not match
their birth certificates; and

Whereas,

Requiring documentary proof of citizenship tied to birth records could
disenfranchise millions of Americans, particularly women who have changed their
names due to marriage or divorce; and

Whereas,

For most of our nation�s history, women had been systematically denied the
right to vote, which is a cornerstone of democracy and fundamental for citizens
to influence the decisions that affect their lives; and�

Whereas,

When New Jersey adopted its first constitution on July 2, 1776, it granted
certain women in the State the right to vote; and

Whereas,

Over the years, New Jersey extended the right to vote to more women until that
right was taken away in 1807, when the New Jersey Legislature passed a law
restricting suffrage to tax-paying White men; and

Whereas,

Women in New Jersey and across the nation fought for more than a century for
the right to vote through protesting, bringing legal challenges, attempting to
vote, conducting hunger strikes, being verbally and physically attacked by the
public and the police, being arrested during protests, authoring papers, and
more in a hard-won fight for suffrage; and

Whereas,

Even after the ratification of the 19th Amendment in 1920, many women,
especially women of color, faced barriers to voting, such as literacy tests,
poll taxes, and violent intimidation, until the passage of the Voting Rights
Act of 1965; and

Whereas,

Women�s right to vote is once again under attack as the President and Congress
are pursuing efforts to make voting less accessible to Americans across the
country; and

Whereas,

The act�s requirement for in-person voter registration or updates with
elections officials would effectively end voter registration online, by mail,
and through community registration drives where elections officials are not
present, thus disproportionately impacting working mothers, caregivers, the
elderly, and survivors of domestic violence who may lack the required
documentation or stable records; and

Whereas,

While the proponents of these measures argue that they are necessary to prevent
non-citizens from voting, there is overwhelming evidence that it is extremely
rare for non-citizens to vote in elections, and these measures are far more
likely to prevent many United States citizens from voting than to address those
limited instances; and

Whereas,

New Jersey believes in ensuring that every citizen�s right to vote is not
compromised and opposes any federal action that would roll back the progress
secured through generations of women�s suffrage advocacy; and

Whereas,

Free, fair, and accessible elections are a core constitutional function of the
states and a cornerstone of a functioning democracy, and Executive Order 14399
and the �SAVE America Act� threaten to undermine the integrity of the elections
process in this State and across the nation; now, therefore,

����
Be It Resolved

by the Senate of the State of New Jersey:

���� 1.� This House reaffirms its
commitment to protecting the voting rights of all eligible United States
citizens, condemns President Trump�s Executive Order 14399 aimed at restricting
mail-in voting, and urges Congress to reject any efforts that would negatively
impact women�s suffrage, including the �SAVE America Act.�

���� 2.� Copies of this resolution,
as filed with the Secretary of State, shall be transmitted by the Secretary of
the Senate to the President and Vice President of the United States, the Majority
and Minority Leaders of the United States Senate, the Speaker and the Minority
Leader of the United States House of Representatives, and each member of
Congress elected from this State.