Testa Calls for Senate to Advance Voter Roll Clean-up Bill in Wake of Report on Duplicate Voter Registrations

Senator Michael Testa today called for the New Jersey Senate to hold hearings on legislation he cosponsors that would require the Secretary of State to clean up the state’s voter rolls to remove duplicate, incorrect, incomplete, and outdated voter registrations.

“The fact that we are still dealing with incorrect voter registrations after so many calls to fix our voter rolls is as infuriating as it is mystifying,” said Testa (R-1). “The Senate must move forward after four-plus years of Murphy administration inaction to help secure and strengthen the faith of voters in our democratic process. I’m calling on Senate leadership to schedule a hearing on legislation I have cosponsored with other members of the Republican caucus to protect the integrity of New Jersey’s elections.”

Testa’s call for action comes in the wake of the Public Interest Legal Foundation’s (PILF) report released on June 6 detailing tens of thousands of errors in New Jersey’s voter rolls. The Foundation’s analysis determined that more than 8,000 New Jersey residents managed to become registered twice or more under variations of their names. There were individuals registered three, four, five, and even six times. The analysis also revealed that over 33,000 registration records contain placeholder or fictitious dates of birth, including birthdates in the future.

Sens. Kristen Corrado (R-40) and Steve Oroho (R-24) sponsor S-68, which is co-sponsored by Testa and Sens. Anthony M. Bucco (R-25), Michael Doherty (R-23) and Ed Durr (R-3). That bill would provide for the crosschecking of information in the statewide database with information obtained via voter registration information agreements entered into by the Secretary of State under current law and must provide for the sharing of voter information among each county clerk and commissioner of registration.

It would also require the Secretary of State to establish uniform standards and procedures for voter list maintenance and crosschecking. At a minimum, the program must permit a county commissioner of registration to verify a new voter registration applicant’s information, update information in the Statewide voter registration system, and remove duplicate, non-resident, or ineligible voters from the Statewide voter registration system.

Finally, the bill also requires the annual report on the voter registration system to the Governor and the Legislature to be submitted no later than 90 days following the date of the November general election.

“This bill would go a long way toward resolving the problems uncovered by this report,” said Testa. “I believe we should pass this bill ahead of this fall’s general election and fix the problems our state and our counties have with duplicate registrations that could lead to voter fraud. New Jersey deserves better.”