Early Voting Reform Needed Now [Op-Ed]

State Sen. Nia H. Gill (D-Essex) is a Montclair resident representing the 34th District. She chairs the Senate Commerce Committee and serves as Senate President Pro Tempore.

In his State of the Union address, President Barack Obama stood before the country and called for voting reform. In doing so, the president spoke of the problems that plagued the nation’s voting system on Election Day 2012, including lines that snaked around the block at polling places in states like Florida, where a 102-year-old woman was told she would have to wait six hours before casting her vote. 

The truth is, there are few rights that are more important than a citizen’s participation in democracy.  

We witness this right in nations throughout the world where women and men proudly hold up their blue-dyed fingers to show that they have cast their ballots, and it’s demonstrated right here in the United States — and in Montclair — where we leave the polls proudly wearing buttons on our lapels displaying the words, “I voted.”

In New Jersey, we also experienced challenges on Election Day, but ours stemmed from problems caused by a natural disaster.  

In Montclair — and across the state — polling places were moved, and for the first time in our history a process was implemented to allow displaced voters to cast their ballots by email and fax . It is imperative that we take action to improve our voting process. 

If we can travel around the world to promote democracy and the right to vote, we must be willing to invest in the infrastructure here, at home, to make sure that we have the most effective, efficient and secure voting process possible. New Jersey must take steps to expand voter access and to safeguard our election system.

That is why I am sponsoring legislation to establish statewide early voting that would give residents the ability to vote in person prior to Election Day and provide greater voter access.

Early voting would ensure that even in an emergency, such as a natural disaster like Hurricane Sandy, or in the case of an unforeseen personal scheduling conflict, residents will still be able to get to the polls and exercise their fundamental right to vote. 

In fact, two-thirds of the states and the District of Columbia offer some sort of early voting, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.

My bill would create a safe and secure process that would enable a registered voter to vote at a designated polling place by paper ballot at least 15 days in advance of an election and up until the Sunday before the election.

Polling places would be open to voters seven days a week — between 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday through Saturday, and noon to 6 p.m. on Sunday. And in each municipality, there would be at least one public location for in-person early voting.

In-person early voting will improve our voting process that currently limits the window for voters to cast their ballots at traditional polling places to a single day. Early voting will expand access to our most fundamental constitutional right: the right to vote.

It’s well past time that we update our laws to reflect a 21st-century society by implementing an early voting system in New Jersey.

S2364, which I am sponsoring with Senator Jim Whelan (D-Atlantic), will be heard in the Senate Budget Committee this Monday, March 4th at 1 p.m.  

If you also believe that we must expand access to our electoral process and would like to see all voters have an opportunity to have their voices heard, please voice your support of this bill to the Office of Legislative Services at OLSAideBS@njleg.org.