Bipartisan bill seeks curbs on messenger ballots
Legislators say campaigns 'gaming a system' intended for the sick and infirm
Two legislators from Monmouth and Hudson Counties have joined together to introduce legislation to curb the use of so-called “messenger ballots”.
Assemblyman Declan O’Scanlon [R-Monmouth] and Assemblyman Carmelo Garcia [D-Hudson] cited the wide-scale use of the ballots in Asbury Park, Atlantic City, Paterson and Hoboken as the impetus for the introduction of the measure, according to a joint news release issued by the legislators.
The ballots are intended only for the sick and incapacitated to have a ballot delivered to them, but in some places the ballots have made up as much as one quarter of those voting, the legislators stated.
“It is curious that in many of these municipalities, the sick and infirm have been overwhelmingly in favor — sometimes as high as 95 percent in favor — of one particular candidate or ticket. This legislation will take one tool away from those who wish to defraud our electoral process” said O’Scanlon.
Under current law, any voter may request a “messenger” bring them a vote-by-mail [VBM] ballot. A voter may return the completed ballot to the county clerk either by mail or designate a “bearer” to return the ballot for them.
A person may serve as a messenger for up to 10 voters during any election cycle. There is no limit on how many ballots a person can handle as a bearer. The O’Scanlon-Garcia legislation would restrict a person to handling only 2 ballots per election cycle, as a messenger or a bearer.
The legislators are also seeking to end the practice where campaigns spends weeks or months before an election encouraging voters to request messenger ballots. Under their proposal, a voter would only be able to request a messenger ballot within 10 days of an election.
“This legislation will reduce the risk of wide-scale potential coercion — or worse — currently being perpetrated by campaigns across the State,” said O’Scanlon. “Messenger ballots are intended only for the sick and the infirm. Unless someone has an emergent, debilitating physical condition there is no reason to involve a third party in directly handling ones ballot.”
“Messenger ballot fraud is common, and not unique to any area. From Monmouth County to Hudson County we have seen campaigns gaming a system designed to ensure the rights of the sick and the infirm for their own political advantage,” Garcia said. “The message we hope to send is clear: election fraud will not be tolerated, and we will take swift action to combat it.”
Last month, a former Paterson Councilman and his wife entered a probationary program to avoid further prosecution after being indicted on charges involving the use of messenger ballots. In past years, there have been convictions and guilty pleas in Atlantic City and Essex County involving messenger ballot fraud, although one former Atlantic City Councilman fought the charges and was found not guilty.
Earlier this month in Atlantic County, the head of the county Democratic organization called for an investigation into the use of messenger ballots, after 800 messenger and vote-by-mail ballots catapulted Republican candidates to victory in school board elections in Pleasantville and Atlantic City, according to published reports.
In the 2013 Asbury Park city council election, the Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office investigated the use of messenger ballots by the A-Team slate, culminating in the execution of a search warrant at the organization’s campaign headquarters a week before the election. The Prosecutor closed the investigation with no charges filed.
In this year’s municipal election in Asbury Park, almost all the requests for messenger ballots were on applications where an A-Team candidate or campaign official was listed as assisting the voter with filling out the applications.
The Monmouth County Board of Elections disqualified hundreds of VBM ballots from Asbury Park involving the use of messengers in both the 2013 and 2014 city council election. In both elections, the board cited the failure to disclose everyone who had assisted the voter with filling out the application for the ballot. A Monmouth County Superior Court Judge ruled against an A-Team candidate who filed suit to get the ballots counted after the 2013 election.
In the last two elections, no A-Team candidates have won seats on the council. The Asbury Together slate swept this year’s council race, and will take office on January 1.
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