New NJ Law Limits Police Presence At Polls

NEW JERSEY — Gov. Phil Murphy signed into law a bill that took well over a year to make its way through the Legislature and disallows police officers from standing within 100 feet of a polling place unless they are casting votes.

The bill, which went through several revisions, could impose penalties on officers for violating its key provision: No police officer — uniformed or in plain clothes, even if off duty — can be within 100 feet of a polling location or ballot drop box unless called there in an emergency.

Police are allowed near polls to vote or if they live within 100 feet of the polling location or are assisting someone who needs an escort to or from the polls.

Senate Bill S3595 and its companion, Assembly Bill A4655, had a rocky ride through the Legislature before it landed on Murphy’s desk for signature Tuesday.

Critics argued that the legislation cast police officers in a negative light and created a divide between officers and members of the community.

But New Jersey’s Senate passed its bill in a 21-16 vote. The Assembly approved its bill in a 44-29-1 vote.

Patch reached out to bill co-sponsor Assemblywoman Mila Jasey (D-Chatham Township) for comment.

Assembly Members Spar Over Bill

During a heated Assembly session in March 2021, one of the bill's primary sponsors, Assemblywoman Verlina Reynolds-Jackson (D-Trenton), engaged in an intense dialogue with Assemblyman Hal Wirths (R-Sparta). Reynolds-Jackson said the bill was intended to “eliminate law enforcement from sitting inside polling locations for 16 hours a day.”

She called it "straight voter intimidation" when law enforcement personnel sit in a polling location “in uniform, with a gun, with a battalion and pepper spray."

Wirths countered that the bill instead “makes a criminal of a law enforcement officer, he or she simply from being within 100 foot of a polling place.”

"The presumption is that he or she is a criminal and is doing something wrong,” Wirths said (see video clip below).

Reynolds-Jackson told Wirths that the bill’s authors worked with law enforcement and “crafted [it] in a way to address a lot of the issues you raise today, and it’s a very good bill.”

“It says law enforcement should be used in a proactive way, not sitting in those locations for long periods of time,” she said.

Widening The Gap Between Public And Police?

Wirths called it a “bad bill” that presumes that police officers are "doing something wrong," he told Patch in a phone interview.

He echoed concerns expressed by state Sen. Christopher Connors, Assemblyman Brian Rumpf and Assemblywoman DiAnne Gove — all Republicans who represent District 9, which includes Berkeley Township — in a news release after the bill passed in March 2021. They called it a “cheap shot at police officers and if enacted, would serve to further erode confidence in the state’s election process.”

Assemblywoman Aura Dunn (R-Chester), who also spoke to Patch in a phone interview, said she remembered a feeling of safety when she headed to the polls for the first time years ago while living in an urban area.

Dunn said this could “widen the gap between the public and the police,” which should be bridged instead. “At the core of it, we thank our first responders for their service, and this is antithetical to that,” Dunn said.

“They are our neighbors,” she said. The new law could create factions and further alienate people from police officers, she added.

Dunn previously crafted a resolution at one point to raise awareness about bottles of water being thrown at police officers in some cities and calling for respect of law enforcemment officers, she said.

In separate interviews, both Wirths and Dunn pointed out what they saw as a disconnect between lawmakers and New Jersey voters. Members of New Jersey’s State Police protect legislators at the statehouse while they cast their votes, they pointed out. Wirths and Dunn complimented the State Police; Dunn called them "the finest.”

Wirths questioned if troopers who now protect them as they do business in the statehouse would be considered lawbreakers. Murphy — and former Gov. Chris Christie — had an entourage of state troopers with them at the polls when they cast their own ballots, he added.

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