Voting In New Jersey

To be eligible to vote in New Jersey you must be:

• A United States citizen
• 18 years old by the next election
• A resident of the county for 30 days before the election

You are not eligible to register to vote if you are serving a jail sentence or are on parole or probation as a result of a conviction of an indictable offense under state or federal law or have been adjudged mentally incompetent. However, in New Jersey, ex-felons can register to vote. Any personwho is no longer in prison, or has completed his or her term of probation or parole can register to vote.

If you registered to vote by mail in your county after January 1, 2003 and have never voted in a federal election in the county, you are required to provide your county commissioner of registration with identification. If you registered by mail before January 1, 2003, you are not required to show identification to register.

Acceptable Identification includes:

• Any current and valid photo ID
• Driver’s license
• Student or job ID
• Military or other government ID
• Store membership ID
• United States passport
• Bank statement
• Car registration
• Government check or document
• Non-photo driver’s license
• Rent receipt
• Sample ballot
• Utility bill
• Any other official document

Identification is required of first time voters who register by mail and do not provide ID verification with application. If you registered to vote by mail in your county after January 1, 2003, and never voted in a federal election in the county, you are required to provide your county commissioner of registration with identification.

Acceptable Identification includes current and valid photo ID such as:

Every person registering to vote must provide his or her NJ driver’s license number or MVC non-driver ID number. If the registrant does not have either a driver’s license or MVC ID, the last four numbers of his or her social security number must be provided. These numbers will be verified by the New Jersey Motor Vehicle Commission. The registrant will be notified if the numbers cannot be matched. If the registrant does not have a driver’s license, MVC non-driver ID or social security number, the box in section

If you show identification, you will vote via the voting machine. If you do not show identification, you will vote via provisional ballot and have until the close of business on the second day after the election, to provide identification to the applicable county election office. You will be given a hand-out at the polling place that will tell you which county election office to contact.

The registration deadline to vote is 21 days prior to Election Day.

Evening registration is available please check with your in the commissioner of registration for dates and times.

Registration forms are also available in various State agencies and at Division of Motor Vehicle offices and can be obtained while transacting agency business.

In New Jersey, you can vote by absentee ballot for any election. You do not need a reason for an absentee ballot. You may apply for an absentee ballot by completing an absentee ballot application and mailing the application to your county clerk by mail up to 7 days prior to the election.

You may also apply in person to the county clerk until 3:00 p.m. the day before the election.

If you applied for an absentee ballot and were required to show identification, you should have received a request for identification in your absentee ballot material. The identification requirement, however, does not apply to any absentee voter who receives a ballot because of temporary illness or a temporary or permanent disability or any absentee military or overseas civilian voter.

Make sure you properly fill out the Application:

Early voting is available through absentee ballots. In New Jersey, you can vote by absentee ballot for any election. You do not need a reason for an absentee ballot. You may apply for an absentee ballot by completing an absentee ballot application and mailing the application to your county clerk by mail up to 7 days prior to the election.

You may also apply in person to the county clerk until 3:00 p.m. the day before the election. The county clerk cannot accept faxed copies of an absentee ballot application because an original signature is required.

If you applied for an absentee ballot and were required to show identification, you should have received a request for identification in your absentee ballot material. The identification requirement, however, does not apply to any absentee voter who receives a ballot because of temporary illness or a temporary or permanent disability or any absentee military or overseas civilian voter.

If you have any questions, you can call 1-877-NJ-VOTER (1-877-658-6837).

The next special election will be held Tuesday, December 8, 2009 (Tuesday, November 17, 2009: Registration Deadline). Please check with your local board of elections office for information on local elections.

In order to be a poll worker in New Jersey:

• You must be registered to vote in New Jersey
• You must be at least 18 years of age
• You will be entitled to compensation
• Political affiliation generally required
• You must be a resident of the county
• You must complete required training every 2 years
• Students 16 or older who meet all other voter requirements may be appointed if they are enrolled in high school and have a written note from a parent or if they graduated from high school and have passed a general education development test

To sign up, contact your local board of elections.

Polls are open from 6:00 am to 8:00 pm.

Time off to vote is subject to the employer. New Jersey state law does not require employers to grant time off to vote for employees.

You can find your voting location by utilizing the New Jersey State Poll Locator Tool. If you cannot find your polling place using the NJ Division of Elections polling locator, please contact the League of Women Voters of New Jersey’s voter hotline at 1-800-792-VOTE (8683) for assistance and to report the problem.

If you have further questions on your polling place location, please contact your county clerk.

Voting by Paper Provisional Ballot
You cannot vote in the voting machine and must vote by Paper Provisional Ballot if:

• your voter registration information is missing or is not complete in
  the poll book. (i.e., your signature is missing.)
• you moved from your registered address to another one in the same county and
  you did not tell the county commissioner of registration in time before the election.
• you are a first-time registrant by mail in your county after January 1, 2003
  and you did not provide ID (or your identification numbers could not be verified)
  to the county commissioner of registration before the election or you do not
  show it to the board workers in the polling place on the day of the election.
• there is an “A” in the poll book but you never received your absentee
  ballot, or you tell the board workers you never applied for an absentee ballot.
  

Completing the Provisional Ballot:

• Complete the provisional ballot affirmation statement that is on the
  provisional ballot envelope.
• Sign the statement. If you don’t, the ballot will not be counted.
• Place the voted ballot into the envelope and seal it.
• Do not detach the affirmation statement. Keep it on the envelope.
• After you give your provisional ballot to a board worker, you must be
  given a piece of paper that will tell you how you can find out if your ballot
  was counted by the Board of Election.

NOTE: If it is determined after the election that you are not a registered voter, the
Provisional Ballot will not be counted, but the Provisional Ballot Affirmation
Statement will be processed as a Voter Registration Application for future
elections. You will be notified by the County Commissioner of Registration
whether your application is accepted.

After the election, you can call 1-877-NJ-VOTER (1-877-658-6837) to find out if your ballot was counted. If your ballot was not counted, you can find out why it was rejected.

The voting system used in New Jersery is DRE.

Direct Recording Electronic (DRE): This is the newest kind of system in use in the U.S. All the information about who and what you are voting for is on an electronic screen like a TV or computer screen.

There are many variations of DREs because lots of companies are inventing new ones, and many cities, counties and states are trying them out. Usually, after you have signed in, the poll workers will give you a card that you slide into a device to start your voting session.

Some of these devices will show all of the candidates and ballot choices on one big screen. Often, with these big screen devices you push a button next to the name of the candidate you want to vote for (or yes or no on a ballot measure). On other DREs, the screen is set up to show “pages.” On each screen or page, there will probably be one thing to vote on. For example, on one screen or page, you might vote for president. Then you might move to the next page to vote for senator. Often these small-screen devices have a “touch screen,” where you touch the screen next to the name of the person you want to vote for. Other devices have a key pad. And some have a keyboard, so you can write in the name of someone you want to vote for.

You let the system know you are finished voting by pushing a button, touching the screen or entering something on a keypad.

Information on local, state and federal candidates and ballot measures is available here.

Most polling places in New Jersey are accessible to the disabled. You may call your county board of elections to determine if your polling location will be able to meet your specific needs. However, if you are permanently disabled, unable to go to the polls to vote, or wish to receive information on an absentee ballot, you may check a box in the lower left hand corner of the voter registration form and information will be forwarded to you. For additional information, please click here.

For information on federal campaign contributions, please visit Open Secrets.

For information on state campaign contributions, please visit your state's resource.