State's primary in February?
Published in the Home News Tribune 05/27/05
 
  
By LILO H. STAINTON
GANNETT STATE BUREAU

TRENTON ? New Jersey voters would pick a presidential candidate in a late February primary and polling places would be equipped with electronic machines that produce a paper record, under election reforms approved yesterday by a Senate committee.

The batch of bills would also allow communities with less than 500 residents to conduct elections by mail. They would also permit citizens, starting next year, to register to vote up to 21 days before an election ? a week longer than currently allowed ? and more easily register with a political party when they sign up to vote.

"It's time we reformed the way officials are elected in New Jersey," said Sen. Wayne Bryant, D-Camden, a sponsor of many of the reform measures.

"Today we tried to take major steps forward toward encouraging and increasing

voter participation throughout New Jersey," said Sen. Joseph Kyrillos, R-Monmouth, another sponsor. He said the bills will also "help ensure that all votes are properly cast, counted and protected."

Some of the 12 bills, endorsed unanimously by the Senate State Government Committee, require another committee's OK before heading to the full Senate. In March, an Assembly panel approved similar measures, first rolled out in October 2004, but the package of bills must be approved by another committee before it is posted for a full Assembly vote.

Sen. Joseph Coniglio, D-Bergen, the committee chairman, held back votes on several measures that would allow voters to use absentee ballots for any reason. Coniglio said some Democrats raised concerns about the bills, which are now being amended.

Most of the proposals, including moving the presidential primary from June to the third Tuesday in February, sparked little debate. But a proposal requiring electronic voting machines to produce a paper trail resulted in over an hour of testimony.

Support for the bill was widespread, and the bill's passage wasn't in doubt, but speakers stressed the importance of a printed record for verifying votes.

Princeton University professor Andrew Appel, who has studied election reforms, held up a circuit board and warned that it is easy to tamper with computerized polling systems. Paper records are "an essential check on that," he said.

"Voters do not trust the accuracy of elections," said Beth Feehan, a voting-rights activist with the Public Interest Law Center. "One person, one vote is the most deeply held value in America. It is the bedrock of our democracy."