It seems that there have been more changes to New Jersey’s election system in the last ten years than in all the years prior.
Early voting, vote by mail (VBM), “motor voter” laws – even the design of our ballot have undergone radical changes just within the last few years. Even with all those changes, there doesn’t seem to be any end in sight. During the governor’s 2025 Budget Address, the patently ludicrous proposal to allow 16-year-olds to vote in school board elections was brought up yet again.
Individuals that age do not have the life experience, have not paid taxes and simply do not understand the complexities of budgets, capital programs, labor contracts to make an informed vote. Another election bill recently introduced would allow for same day voter registration – a preposterous proposal that would open the door for unqualified voters who may or may not even live here to vote in our elections with the burden falling on the state to weed out who is legitimate and who is not.
All these changes and proposed changes do one thing – erode the integrity of our elections.
Several years ago, I received a panicked text from a friend who had just finished voting and was appalled that the poll worker did not ask to see identification. When I informed him that they could not, by law ask for identification, he was shocked – and with good reason. With the stakes extremely high in elections at every level of government, the potential and motivation for dishonesty at the ballot box is also disturbingly high.
We have all heard instances of localities with more votes cast than registered voters, deceased individuals on voter rolls, vote “harvesting” where the signatures of valid voters are illegally obtained to vote without their consent, and so on. The fact is voter fraud cannot even be accurately quantified without a uniform system of determining the identity of every voter who casts a vote.
Opponents of voter I.D. claim that it “disenfranchises minority voters.” Simply put, this is absurd and an insult to every minority group in the country. In fact, after North Carolina passed a very comprehensive voter I.D. law African-American voter turnout actually increased.
Americans should expect and demand that every reasonable measure be taken to ensure the security and validity of our elections. One of the most basic protections is to have voters provide evidence that proves that they are in fact, who they say they are. The list of situations that require photo I.D. is endless, including renting a car, entering an office building, picking up tickets for a minor league baseball game and applying for food stamps, to name a few. There is no reason that something as vital to our republic as voting should not be accorded the same level of security.
As such, Assemblywoman Vicky Flynn and I are proud to sponsor bills that would require photo I.D. to vote, require New Jersey to participate in an interstate voter registration crosscheck program which will identify those registered to vote in multiple states and those who are deceased, and a bill to create a state-of-the-art system for reporting and recording suspected instances of fraud. The I.D. requirement would be extended to absentee ballots, which are an area of grave concern to those who are interested in protecting our elections from dishonest participation.
We are privileged to live in a free society where qualified citizens have the right to choose their leaders and shape the future of their country. Protecting the validity and purity of those elections is paramount to our survival as a nation.
