Bill Text: NJ A2499 | 2024-2025 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Permits voter to take photograph of own voted ballot and share it on Internet-based social media.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)
Status: (Introduced) 2024-01-09 - Introduced, Referred to Assembly State and Local Government Committee [A2499 Detail]
Download: New_Jersey-2024-A2499-Introduced.html
STATE OF NEW JERSEY
221st LEGISLATURE
PRE-FILED FOR INTRODUCTION IN THE 2024 SESSION
Sponsored by:
Assemblyman JOHN ALLEN
District 32 (Hudson)
SYNOPSIS
Permits voter to take photograph of own voted ballot and share it on Internet-based social media.
CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT
Introduced Pending Technical Review by Legislative Counsel.
An Act concerning the secrecy of the voted ballot and amending R.S.19:34-7.
Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:
1. R.S.19:34-7 is amended to read as follows:
19:34-7. No person shall within the polling room mark his ballot in a place other than in the polling booth or show his ballot, nor shall anyone request such person to show his ballot during the preparation thereof, nor shall any other person inspect such ballot during the preparation thereof or after it is prepared for voting in such a way as to reveal the contents, nor shall any person within the polling place or within a hundred feet thereof, loiter, electioneer, or solicit any voter.
No voter, at any election where official ballots are used, shall knowingly vote or offer to vote any ballot except an official ballot as by this Title required.
No person shall on any pretext carry any official ballot from the polling room on any election day except such persons as may by this Title be authorized to do so.
The provisions of this section shall not be interpreted to prohibit a voter from voluntarily taking a photograph of the voter's own voted ballot and sharing that photograph on Internet-based social media.
Any person violating any of the provisions of this section shall be guilty of a crime of the fourth degree.
(cf: P.L.2005, c.154, s.27)
2. This act shall take effect immediately.
STATEMENT
This bill allows voters to photograph their own voted ballots while in a voting booth and to share those photographs on Internet-based social media.
Under current law, a voter is prohibited from showing his or her voted ballot. The law also prohibits other persons from requesting that a voter show his or her voted ballot, or from inspecting such ballot during or after voting as to reveal its contents. This bill does not remove these prohibitions. This bill provides that these provisions of current law would not be interpreted to prohibit a voter from voluntarily taking a photograph of the voter's own voted ballot and sharing it on Internet-based social media.
