Voting "yes" for democracy
Opinion    Asbury Park Press 06/3/05

With a majority of registered voters getting to the polls in New Jersey only for the presidential or a hotly contested gubernatorial election, anything state officials can do to encourage greater turnout is welcome. A package of bills that cleared a state Senate committee last week can help entice more people to take part.

The bills (S-2461 through S-2165) are designed to "increase voter participation . . . and ensure that all votes are properly cast, counted and protected," said Sen. Joseph M. Kyrillos Jr., R-Monmouth, who is sponsoring the bills with Sen. Thomas H. Kean Jr., R-Union.

They cleared the Senate State Government Committee unanimously last week and deserve a similar reception from the full Senate. Assembly members who represent Monmouth and Ocean counties should urge their house's leaders to introduce companion bills.

The primary get-out-the-vote measures ? the "Voters' Bill of Rights" ? would require county election boards to post information about polling dates and hours, offer instruction on how to use machines and explain each voter's right to privacy. The state is not acting in a vacuum. Any costs would be reimbursed through the federal Helping America Vote Act of 2002.

A second bill addresses voter fraud and intimidation by increasing the criminal penalties, so anyone considering interfering with voters should think twice. The maximum is a $10,000 fine and/or 18 months in prison.

Another bill focuses on training election officials ? county clerks, boards of election and poll workers ? on distributing polling information and voting machine instruction. The Internet has not been forgotten, with officials required to maintain a Web site offering similar information.

The last piece of the package responds to voters concerned that their electronic vote may not be counted. This bill would require all voting systems to issue a paper record, available to the voter on the spot and kept by election officials for use in any recount.

Machines would have to be d to provide the paper record, one of the obstacles to approval of comparable legislation sponsored in Congress by Rep. Rush Holt, D-N.J. The mechanism adds 10 percent to the $2,000 to $3,000 cost of the machine, Holt says. But it's a price worth paying to instill voter confidence that every vote counts.