'Election Integrity Bill' Package Up For Sparta Township Council Endorsement

SPARTA, NJ — When the Sparta Township Council is scheduled to meet on Tuesday night, among resolutions the council plans to adopt is one pertaining to support “election integrity.”

The resolution backs an election integrity bill package sponsored by New Jersey State Senator Steve Oroho, as well as Assemblymen Hal Wirths and Parker Space, all R-24th Dist., which the council’s resolution states, “consists of constitutional, common sense measures to ensure honest elections and protect voter rights.”

According to the council’s agenda for Tuesday’s meeting, the resolution states that “certain current New Jersey election procedures fail to require photo identification to vote, mass mailing of unsolicited mail-in ballots, resistance to regular review of voter rolls, undermine confidence in the legitimacy of elections and thus, the legitimacy of our elected governments.”

“The Sparta Township Council is dedicated to the proposition that every election must be conducted free of fraud and to the principle that every legal vote must be counted,” the resolution further reads.

• Inducements to electoral fraud must be eliminated.
• Illegitimate votes must not be counted.

“The Sparta Township Council supports the right of all citizens to cast a legal vote in all elections that is then counted, without regard to race, sex, political orientation or any other non-disqualifying factor,” the resolution additionally reads.

Among the provisions in the bill package, Oroho, Space and Wirths’ co-sponsored legislation includes, according to the resolution:

• Removing 48-hour provision for acceptance of ballots postmarked by Election Day.
• Increased penalties for violation of ballot messenger and bearer limits and candidate prohibition.
• Requirement of some proof of voter identification, as well as procedures that “challenge voters regarding proof of identity.”
• Repeal of “Agreement Among the States to Elect the President by National Popular Vote.”
• Matching of information in voter registration system to identify and remove ineligible and non-citizen voter registrants.
• Disclosure of vendor financial ties requirement before electronic voting system is approved by the Secretary of State.
• Repeal of the automatic vote by mail designation.
• Removal of political affiliation from outer envelope of mail-in ballot.
• Creation of a website to report mail-in ballot irregularities.
• Establishment of a voter list maintenance and crosscheck program.
• Creation of “inactive file” for voters with undeliverable mail-in ballots and removal of inactive voters from rolls after not voting in two federal general elections.
• Creation of a voter fraud task force by the Attorney General’s office.
• Non-allowance of a voter system or machine from foreign companies.
• Movement of Division of Elections from Department of State to Department of Law and Public Safety, with Attorney General as the chief election official.
• Creation of a constitutional amendment to allow registered voters the right to cast their ballot in person at a polling place on Election Day, with mail-in ballots only sent by request.

“The Sparta Township Council notes the ready availability of government issued identification, which is required for multiple mundane daily transactions, such as to enter federal buildings, check out a library book, purchase cold medicine, rent a car, board an airplane; and that requiring voter identification is neither onerous nor burdensome and cannot discern any viable reason why any person would oppose such measure other than to foment electoral fraud,” the resolution also states.

The resolution additionally states that asking a voter to personally request a vote-by-mail ballot yearly “is not onerous or burdensome, and likewise cannot discern any viable reason why any person would oppose such measure other than to foment electoral fraud.”

The resolution, which calls on Gov. Phil Murphy and the legislature to pass and sign the election integrity package into law, indicates that the package will “ensure that all legal votes are counted and assure citizens that their elected officials have in fact been elected via a fair, non-fraudulent election and thus maintaining the legitimacy of our democratically elected governments.”

Questions or comments about this story? Have a news tip? Contact me at: jennifer.miller@patch.com.