The General Assembly this morning passed S-4069, which requires that any voter who requested and received a mail-in ballot for any election in 2017 and 2018 by filing a mail-in ballot application following the deadline be added to the list of registered voters receiving a mail-in ballot for all future elections without further request from the voter.

The fix-it bill (a version of the Senate President Steve Sweeney (D-3)-sponsored version passed yesterday by the senate) appropriates $2 million for implementation costs.

Fifty-eight members of the Assembly showed up for the single-bill voting session.

The VBM bill passed by a vote of 44-14.

Assemblywoman Serena DiMaso (R-13) rose after the fact with a criticism of the bill but noted that the voting occurred too quickly for her to express her opposition prior to Coughlin calling for the machines to open.

Under current law, persons wishing to vote by mail may file an application to receive a mail-in ballot either for all future elections or for any single election. Pursuant to P.L.2018, c.72, these two choices were adopted to simplify the vote-by-mail application, consolidating prior categories of elections for voting by mail.

The law required the county clerks to add to the list of registered voters receiving a mail-in ballot for all future elections without further request each voter in the county who requested and received a mail-in ballot for the 2016 general election. However, the law was silent on interim applications to vote by mail filed in 2016, 2017, and 2018, before the change in the vote-by-mail application became effective on August 10, 2018.

Sponsoring the bill:

Assemblywoman  PATRICIA EGAN JONES

District 5 (Camden and Gloucester)

Assemblywoman  PAMELA R. LAMPITT

District 6 (Burlington and Camden)

Assemblyman  ADAM J. TALIAFERRO (pictured above)

District 3 (Cumberland, Gloucester and Salem)

Assemblyman  ANDREW ZWICKER

District 16 (Hunterdon, Mercer, Middlesex and Somerset)

Assemblywoman  VERLINA REYNOLDS-JACKSON

District 15 (Hunterdon and Mercer)

Co-Sponsoring:

Assemblyman Mukherji, Assemblywoman McKnight, Assemblyman Moriarty and Assemblywoman Lopez