Along with Assemblymembers Riley and Chivukula, Assemblywoman Joan Quigley is pushing legislation that would allow for online voter registration:
The measure (A-4189) would create an online voter registration form, hosted on a secure site within the Department of State's Web site, that would allow residents to register to vote, change their voting address after a move or change their name in the voter file, all from a computer. Before registering or making a change, an individual's identity would be confirmed utilizing the digital signature found on the state's new digital driver's licenses.
Here is the video press release on the bill the Assembly Majority office put out:
Quigley makes the argument that of all the things we can do online from the comfort of home, we can't register to vote because NJ is "stubbornly rooted in the past." She says making it easier to register may be what we need to get more people to get out and vote. I personally think you need to give people something to vote for once you get them to register too, but that's a separate issue.The legislation has not been assigned to a committee as of yet and there is also no Senate counterpart yet from what I see. What do you think of the idea of utilizing online voter registration?
Democrats have a fourteen point voter registration edge over Republicans in New Jersey, 34%-20%, according to a summary released by the state Division of Elections last Thursday. But nearly half of New Jersey voters (46%) are not affiliated with a political party.
Since October 2008, Democratic voter registration has actually declined, by 15,430 voters, while the number of registered Republicans has increased by 6,794. The total number of registered voters in New Jersey has decreased by 142,328 over the last year.
More than a half-million New Jerseyans have registered to vote this year, setting a new state record and overwhelming elections officials who are scrambling to process the surge of applicants before Election Day.
Secretary of State Nina Mitchell Wells said Tuesday that New Jersey now has a record 5.3 million registered voters. That's due in part to the 575,145 new voters who have registered since Jan. 1.
And they're not done processing yet:
Some county clerks have been inundated with new voter requests. In Essex County, employees are working staggered shifts around the clock to get as many new voters on the books as possible. Wells said election workers in other counties are working 12- to 14-hour days, seven days a week.
Those whose names don't make the book will still be able to vote by provisional ballot, she said.
If you're a first time voter, the Division of Elections actually offers an educational video. The next step is for you to decide whether you want to vote at the polls or by absentee ballot.
This story should serve as a reminder of why we need to work every district in every election:
As of Tuesday -- the last day for a New Jersey resident to register to vote in this year's presidential election -- there were almost 10,000 more registered Democrats in Cumberland County compared with registered Republicans.
In February of this year, the difference was only about 4,000.
The largest bloc of voters, as in most NJ counties, are the unaffiliated voters, which number 47,482. As I've noted elsewhere, given the lack of any reason to expect differently, those unaffiliated voters will likely split in a similar manner as the partisan voters. That would mean a likely near-20,000 vote surplus for Democrats in Cumberland County.
There are going to be problems at the polls due to the amazing influx of new votes. Here's a piece from the local Gannet papers today:
In at least three counties - Essex, Passaic and Somerset - election officials do not think they will be able to process every form in time to get every registered voter in the books that workers use to check in voters at polling places.
Voters whose names do not appear in the books are entitled to use paper provisional ballots. The provisional ballots are counted after officials verify the voters are registered.
But the point is that every provisional ballot is one or two poll workers taken off the tables, one or two poll worker who isn't there to help other voters cast their ballots.
Which means longer lines, lots longer lines.
So please, please, please vote absentee this year. And get everyone you know pulling the Democratic lever to do so as well. It will not only ensure that their votes get counted and the lines are shorter, but it will make our GOTV efforts easier on election day.
Courtesy of a NJ Democratic State Committee Press Release:
This year, we have 556,000 newly-registered Democratic voters; an unprecedented surge fueled by anti-Bush sentiment, pro-Democrat support, Obama enthusiasm, young voters and the growing recognition of the importance of the election.
The partisan advantage in New Jersey is now totals 1.6 million Democrats to less than 1 million Republicans. Last year, the party split was 1 million Democrats to 830,000 Republicans.
Democrats now have the voter-registration advantage in 15 counties to 6 counties for the GOP. Last year, the split was 11 to 10 in favor of Democrats
The ongoing ratio of new party registrations is Three To One in favor of Democrats.
Let's hope these numbers help candidates up and down the ballot on Election Day.
Participants will have the opportunity to cast their votes for the presidential race, along with the U.S. Senate and House contests in New Jersey. Students will vote for congressional candidates in the district according to their school's location.
Here's more about the National Student/Parent Mock Election. Depending on the school, students will either use paper ballots or vote online and they will also get to give their opinion on the economy, our energy policy, healthcare costs/policies and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan:
The New Jersey Press Foundation, which is coordinating the event in the Garden State, says more than 725 schools around New Jersey have enrolled an estimated 333,000 students. Voting will be conducted between Oct. 20 and Oct. 30, and the students can choose to vote in all or some of the categories.
Here's more about why they are running the program
Mock election officials say the event is "an excellent way to encourage young people to become interested in voting" and help them become more involved in state and national issues and candidates. It also provides parents and children with the opportunity to discuss their beliefs and concerns about matters that affect them.
I think this is a great way to get students engaged and paying attention to what is going on around them. Speaking of voting, if you or someone you know are eligible to vote and haven't registered yet, this is your last weekend. The deadline to register to vote is this Tuesday, October 14. Click here to get a registration form for you, your friends or your family.
If you thought the interest in voting was huge for our February Presidential Primary, then you are going to be totally gaga over what's happening right now.
One Republican county election office is working 12 hour weekdays, full days on Saturday and Sunday, and hiring temporary workers to try to keep up with the massive influx of new registrations and are still falling behind!
So, do you think these are Obama or McCain voters? Will the influx of new voters help Democrats down the ticket, or just Obama? Will a lot of first time voters be disenfranchised by system errors?
Noting that about 20,000 to 30,000 of the state's approximately 400,000 high school students either are or will turn 18 in time to vote for the upcoming Nov. 4 election, Davy said high school teachers and principals have a unique opportunity this year to incorporate discussions about the importance of voting into their curriculum and to register new voters.
Chen praised the work that Davy has done:
"Commissioner Davy has made a strong commitment to reaching out to districts to make sure they are aware of their legal responsibility to provide voter registration forms to all eligible high school students as required under state law," said Chen,
noting that he and Davy met jointly with county superintendents this summer and that DOE has contacted every public school district with instructions on how to meet this legal mandate.
Specifically, the 1985 law mandates the distribution of voter registration materials and instructional materials "describing the role of a citizen and the importance of voting," said Chen. The law also applies to private and charter schools with students eligible to vote.
So are you registered? Have you registered someone else lately? If not, time is running out, but you still have 10 more days. Here is a link to a Voter Registration form and here is one for you to vote Absentee.
By Erin Ferns
"...Too many people do not understand or exercise their voting rights, and as a result, entire segments of our population - and especially formerly incarcerated individuals - are being underrepresented at the polls on Election Day." - New Jersey Sen. Ronald Rice (D-Newark)
A state effort to register every eligible voter has backfired, resulting in hundreds -- possibly thousands -- of persons being erroneously told they are not on the voting rolls, county and state officials said today.
You may be asking yourself how something like this could happen:
Secretary of State Nina Mitchell Wells, whose office issued the letters, and Assistant Public Advocate Jo Astrid Gladding confirmed the erroneous notices were the result of an effort to match voter rolls to motor vehicle records.
Glitches in the computer data -- some as minor as a missing middle initial -- led to notices going to voters who are in fact registered, according to Susan Evans, a spokeswoman for Wells. One source of trouble, she said, was that voters who first registered before a birth date was required are listed in state elections computers as having been born on 01-01-1800 -- which obviously does not match the birth dates on their driving records.
Evans said 300,000 letters went out to voters living in Essex, Bergen and five South Jersey counties. She did not know how many were erroneous. Before the mailings resume, she said, the data will be scrubbed -- in particular to keep those voters listed as 208 years old from getting the notices "so they're not unduly alarmed."
If you got one of these letters inadvertently, you can call your county commissioner of registration or municipal clerk to confirm that you are in fact registered to vote.
For those of you with friends and family across the Delaware River, like me, this is just a reminder that the deadline to register for the April 22, 2008 primary is TODAY. Today is also the deadline to declare party affiliation; Pennsylvania's is a closed primary, and i haven't read anything to indicate that they will allow voters to affiliate at the polls as New Jersey did.
Problems voting? You have to vote provisionally? Let us know. Machines not working correctly? Let us know. Hard to locate your polling place? Asked for ID? Asked for assistance but got none? Let us know at 1-800-792-VOTE. This number is the VOTELine run by the League of Women Voters.
Election officials are supposed to provide election reports for each election in NJ. They don't, at least with respect to what types of problems voters had. So we are recording all problems, using that information to convince the state to improve the state of elections here in NJ.
Too many people believe that the problems they often encounter in the polling place or trying to register to vote are normal...but they should not be. Elections should be transparent, but they are not. Election information should be easy to find but it is not.
I spent the day yesterday just trying to identify polling places where university students would vote. Only Rutgers had any information on specific polling places. The state system requires a specific address, which many dorms don't have.
So if you encounter problems on Feb 5th, please call us. At the very least, we will record your problem. Perhaps we can even solve it. We will have non-partisan lawyers available in 5 counties to assist voters who opt to go to an election judge.
New Jersey has about 48,000 more voters today than it had just two months ago. That's a 1% increase which brings the total number of registered voters to about 4.8 million.
The vast majority of those new voters - about 42,000 (88%) chose not to affiliate with any party. Most New Jersey voters (~60%) are already unaffiliated.
Among those who did choose a political affiliation, 95.4% (6140 voters) affiliated with the Democratic party while 4.6% (295 voters) chose the Republican party. That's a stunning 20:1 ratio. It's clear where the excitement is this year.
It's all about turnout! Election Day is November 7; with a strong turnout, New Jersey will stay blue and bring many more wonderful new candidates into office on the tide of America dissatisfaction with our country's direction. It helps, too, that we can be enthusiastic about some of the great 2006 candidates who want to go to work for us, both in Washington and right here at home.
(UPDATE: My absentee ballot arrived in the mail yesterday. The instructions are very clear, and the ballot is actually easier to follow than the one in the voting machine. If you're registered to vote this November - the deadline to register is this coming Tuesday, 10/17) - you should seriously consider voting absentee. - promoted by noweeman)
UPDATE #2: If you need it, the NJ Elections Home Page's "NJ Voter Bulletin Board" provides a full list of all the 2006 deadlines for registrations, absentee ballot applications, voting, etc.
I love voting. I love walking into the polling place, greeting the poll workers, signing the book, walking into the booth, and casting my ballot. But, this year, not to be outdone by a certain former governor, I'm embarking on my own journey of self-discovery - I'm voting absentee.
I was intimidated at first, but it actually seems quite easy! All you have to do is print this out (it's also available en espanol), fill it out, and mail it to your County Clerk at least 7 days before the election (that means mail by October 30th this year to be safe). Your ballot will then be mailed directly to you with instructions.
Don't trust the mail? That's okay too! You can bring your application in person to the County Clerk any time from right this moment until 3:00 p.m. the day before the election.
I'm literally filling out my application today. I'll keep you posted on how it goes, but in the meantime, join me!
In New Jersey, ANY voter can vote by absentee ballot for ANY election. Unlike the old days, YOU DO NOT NEED A REASON to vote by absentee ballot. (Though on the flip - I'll give you some great reasons for doing it!)
