Senate hearing expected on same-day voter registration

New Jersey lawmakers intend to hold a hearing on legislation that would allow residents to register to vote on Election Day, but it’s still unclear when — or if — the proposal will see a committee vote.

The bill is scheduled to come up for a discussion-only hearing at the Senate State Government, Wagering, and Tourism Committee’s March 3 meeting, said Sen. James Beach (D-Camden), the panel’s chairman.

Under current law, New Jerseyans must register to vote at least 21 days before an election to avoid being barred from the polls.

The bill narrows that window to eight days before an election while allowing residents to register — and vote — at their polling place on Election Day if they provide documents that confirm their name and address and attest in an affidavit that they have lived in the county where they intend to vote for at least 30 days.

Bank statements, utility bills, paychecks, and any government document that shows a resident’s name and address — including photo IDs like driver’s licenses — number among the list of allowed documents. The bill would allow the secretary of state to approve other types of documents.

The bill would also allow voters to register at their county clerk’s office until 3 p.m. on the day before a given election and cast their ballot the next day.

“The bill is a common-sense kind of a bill,” said Sen. Nellie Pou (D-Passaic), a prime sponsor. “The important part is they are able to exercise their civic responsibility and civic right to be able to vote, and that’s an opportunity that we should be making available to all of our citizens.”

Voting advocates have long sought to establish same-day registration in New Jersey, pointing to turnout gains attributed to the policy in states that allow the practice. Eighteen states and the District of Columbia allow residents to register and vote on Election Day.

Studies conducted across decades have consistently shown same-day registration leads to increased turnout, the gains ranging between two and seven percentage points, with more significant rises among young, Black, and Latino voters.

“In a lot of ways, it’s really disheartening to see how our system currently works, and we can fix it,” said Henal Patel, director of the New Jersey Institute for Social Justice’s Democracy and Justice program.

The institute has launched a campaign with the New Jersey League of Women Voters to urge lawmakers to pass the same-day registration bill.

Former Senate President Steve Sweeney last March said same-day registration would never happen in New Jersey, citing opposition to the practice among Senate Democrats.

It’s unclear how many Democrats in the upper chamber oppose same-day registration. However, Pou pointed to a growing list of cosponsors to suggest opposition is softening.

The reasons for the opposition are not clear. Same-day registration can obscure the size of the electorate, and predictable electorates do benefit incumbents.

“I think the idea of being surprised, being caught off guard, being caught flatfooted, and not knowing who the electorate is is an understandable concern,” said Micah Rasmussen, director of Rider University’s Rebovich Institute for New Jersey Politics. “However, that doesn’t mean that concern overrides our interest in maximizing vote participation.”

Gov. Phil Murphy has expressed support for on-site same-day registration in the past and has named the policy a priority for his second term.

Republicans will likely oppose the bill. Some have raised concerns about ballot security and the added workload same-day registration could put on election officials already taxed by recent laws that expanded mail-in voting and allowed residents to cast machine votes early in person.

“Over the last two years, we have thrown so many mandates and changes at our election officials that their heads are still spinning,” said Sen. Kristin Corrado (R-Passaic). “We haven’t taken an honest look at what works and what doesn’t work and made it more effective, and that’s something we should be doing before we have a conversation about same-day registration.”

Corrado added she does not feel New Jersey voters are clamoring for same-day registration.

Same-day registration is likely to add less work for election officials than early voting, which requires counties and the state to purchase electronic poll books and new voting machines and make upgrades to the Statewide Voter Registration System.

Election officials may even be able to register voters on Election Day using provisional ballots already used by residents whose names do not appear on voter rolls. Patel said that’s the most significant difference between same-day registration and in-person voting.

“It fits within a current infrastructure that we already have,” Patel said.