19:31-17 Incarceration data; use.

19:31-17. a. Once each month during the first five days thereof, the chief State election official shall notify the commissioner of registration of a county of any information which the official shall have received during the previous month from the United States Attorney under subsection g. of section 8 of Pub.L. 103-31 (42 U.S.C. s. 1973gg-6) concerning the conviction of a resident of the county of a crime under the laws of the United States, or any other official action relating to such a conviction, that would constitute grounds for disfranchisement of the person while serving a sentence of incarceration under the laws of this State.

b. Once each month during the first five days thereof the prosecutor of the county shall deliver to the commissioner a list of the names and addresses of all persons and their ages and offenses who have been convicted during the previous month of a crime which would disfranchise them while serving a sentence of incarceration under the laws of this State, including therewith the date upon which judgment of conviction was entered against the person, and also including a statement of any sentence of incarceration imposed by the court during the month upon any person so convicted during that month or any previous month; provided, however, if the address of the person so convicted is located in a county other than the county in which the conviction was obtained the said prosecutor shall mail a report of such conviction to the proper election official of the county in which the address of such person is located.

c. Upon the receipt of the notice prescribed under subsection a. of this section or the list prescribed under subsection b. hereof, the commissioner shall make such investigation as is necessary to establish to his satisfaction that the convicted person who was sentenced to a period of incarceration is registered to vote in the county. If it is so established, the commissioner shall cause the registration and record of voting forms of such convicted and sentenced registrant to be transferred to the conviction and incarceration file. In the event the person so convicted and incarcerated is not registered at the time the list or report is received, the commissioner shall cause an index card to be made out and inserted in its proper place in the master index file bearing the information received from the State election official or a county prosecutor, and the person so convicted and incarcerated shall be denied the right to register while serving a sentence of incarceration. Such persons upon the restoration of their citizenship rights or upon being pardoned shall be required to register or reregister before being allowed to vote.

amended 1947, c.168, s.21; 1950, c.37; 1994, c.182, s.15; 2019, c.270, s.4.