WHEREAS, Senate Bill S-2364 and Assembly Bill A3553 propose to create a system of early voting in the State of New Jersey; and

WHEREAS, the goal of accommodating voters in pursuit of greater participation in the democratic process is a worthy goal; and

WHEREAS, these bills would in reality increase workloads, add more costs to the election process, and ultimately serve to confuse voters more than it would accommodate their needs; and

WHEREAS, these bills would require for each primary and general election a public facility, except a public school, located in each municipality in an area of a high concentration of population to be open and available to registered voters starting 15 days before an election for early polling, possibly conflicting with if not pushing out other important uses for these buildings, causing inconvenience to residents; and

WHEREAS, these bills require retraining of poll workers and dramatically increased hours, as well as chain of custody requirements to protect the voting process, despite the fact that recruiting and training polls workers is already a difficult process; and

WHEREAS, these bills would increase costs to municipalities, including overtime pay for workers; and

WHEREAS, although these bills allow municipalities to request reimbursement for extra costs and provide an appropriation, the appropriation does not outline a specific amount nor dedicated funding, only that which the State Treasurer and the Director of the Division of Budget and Accounting deem necessary, and they do not outline the procedure for a municipality whose reimbursement request is denied; and

WHEREAS, the opportunity for “Early Voting” already exists in the State of New Jersey through the Vote by Mail ballot process.

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that governing body of the (insert name of municipality) in the County of (insert name of county) does hereby oppose S2364 and A3553; and