Governor Murphy is ramping up his push for same-day voter registration, Save Jerseyans, all despite some pushback from legislative leaders.
Murphy says it’s about “access to the ballot box.”
He re-tweeted this tired line on Tuesday:
Four years ago, I signed one of the most sweeping automatic voter registration policies in the nation.
Now is the time to enact same-day voter registration – further strengthening access to the ballot box and increasing voter turnout. pic.twitter.com/HgGEDMktjp
— Governor Phil Murphy (@GovMurphy) April 18, 2022
Is “access” really a problem?
Let’s use the upcoming primary as an example. New Jersey residents can register to vote up until May 17th. Once they’ve registered, they can vote (1) by mail without an excuse like unavailability or disability like you used to need, (2) early at a designated polling station, and (3) vote in-person on primary day in the traditional way at their normal polling station.
It’s really easy to vote, folks. Stupid easy. In fact, if you can’t figure out how to vote with all of the available options, I question your dedication (or intelligence) and whether we really want your vote. Is someone who can’t figure out how to use any of these options up to the challenge of selecting a leader to tackle property taxes or parental rights?
Most Republicans won’t have the intestinal fortitude to say that, of course, for fear of being accused of advocating “suppressing votes” or some other maliciously false nonsense, but I’m not running for office which frees me up to tell you the truth! We want voters who are informed and motivated, not reluctant, semi-interested-at-best pawns of the machines who are in some cases “busing” them in.
Another inescapable truth: Murphy’s same-day push is motivated by his close scrape in Election 2021.
Murphy went into reelection armed with a 1+ million Democrat statewide voter registration advantage, a wildly-liberal vote by mail law to help his party’s vote harvesters, pollsters lazily parroting each other’s questionable projection of a major Murphy lead, the Media actively supporting his talking points, a huge money advantage, and all of the power of incumbency.
He still won by only about 3-points.
Post-election, we learned that the governor’s minions convened focus groups to figure out what happened. Based upon what we’ve seen from his over the last several months, “you went too far-Left” doesn’t appear to have been the takeaway conclusion of these gatherings. They’re going to continue changing voting laws under the pretense of “equity” and “access” until they get the results they want.
Meanwhile, the ballot security issues arising from same-day registration are clear. So are the unintended consequences.
“Anyone willing to cheat can walk into any polling place (or places), register under a fake name and address, cast a ballot, then walk out of the polling place scot-free—and election officials can do absolutely nothing to stop it,” the Heritage Foundation explained in December 2021. “Moreover, election officials decide how many ballots and how many personnel are needed at polling places based on the number of registered voters. If hundreds of unregistered voters show up at a particular polling location on Election Day, an election official may not have enough ballots or staff, leading to the disenfranchisement of voters who were properly registered at that location but who, unfortunately for them, showed up late in the day to vote.”
One would’ve hoped Phil Murphy’s narrow reelection would have catalyzed a little humility.
Unfortunately, it’s bringing out his worst instincts.
