19:4-1.1 Findings, declarations relative to the right to vote by persons on parole or probation.
1. The Legislature finds and declares:
a. Voting is both a fundamental right and a civic duty.
b. In New Jersey, many people are denied the right to vote because they are on probation or parole for an indictable offense.
c. New Jersey first denied the right to vote, and permitted the Legislature to deny by law the right to vote, on account of a criminal conviction as part of its Constitution of 1844.
d. The law in its current form was enacted decades prior to the dramatic increases in incarceration experienced by New Jersey and the nation over the past 40 years.
e. Nearly half of those denied the right to vote because of a criminal conviction are Black, due to racial disparities in the criminal justice system.
f. There is no evidence that denying the right to vote to people with criminal convictions serves any legitimate public safety purpose.
g. Denying the right to vote to people with criminal convictions who are on parole or probation unnecessarily burdens law enforcement, election officials, and New Jersey residents. Administering New Jersey's current law requires involvement from multiple public safety agencies, as well as State and local election officials, and average citizens need to understand principles of the criminal law in order to know who is or is not eligible to vote.
h. This act, P.L.2019, c.270, would conserve law enforcement resources and create a bright-line rule so that average citizens are not wrongly denied their right to vote due to confusion or mistake.
L.2019, c.270, s.1.
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