Governor Sherrill signs law expanding early voting in May municipal elections!
While Trump attacks voting rights, New Jersey expands access to the polls
TRENTON –
Governor Mikie Sherrill signed a new law: A4745/S420 (Wainstein, Rodriguez, McCoy/Stack, Mukherji) , which allows municipalities to extend early voting days in local elections in May.
New Jersey Gov. Mikie Sherrill addressed journalists from across the state on Friday morning at the New Jersey Excellence in Community Media Awards, highlighting the importance of government accountability, transparency, and accessible information for ethnic and community media.
“While President Trump attempts to undermine the election and obstruct voting with his unconstitutional executive order, we will take all necessary steps to protect the integrity of our elections and make them more accessible to New Jersey voters,” said Governor Mikey Sherrill. “This law will allow municipalities to expand early voting and ensure that people in the Garden State can have their voices heard at the local level, where these decisions affect our neighborhoods, our schools, and our daily lives.”
“I thank Governor Sherrill for signing this law. I believe in improving and making the voting process easier,” said Senator Brian Stack. “ As I always say, we need to get to the polls. With this law, we have extra days for early voting. I hope more residents will be encouraged to participate in this sacred electoral process.”
“Early voting isn’t a luxury, it’s a necessity,” said Assemblyman Larry Wainstein . Not everyone works a 9-to-5, Monday through Friday. By increasing the number of early voting days, we give more people the opportunity to vote. Thank you to the governor for signing this important law. Once again, she’s putting the people’s interests first.
This legislation authorizes municipalities holding nonpartisan elections in May to begin early voting eight days before election day, extending the early voting period by four days. It should be noted that early voting will continue until two days before election day. This law grants voters seven days to vote early.
This expansion of early voting provides voters with more opportunities to vote early in the nonpartisan municipal elections and brings the early voting period for these elections closer to the period for state and federal elections.
This measure comes after the Trump administration’s unconstitutional executive order on mail-in voting. The order instructs federal agencies to create lists of voters whose citizenship has been verified and requires the U.S. Postal Service to deliver mail-in ballots only to those on state-approved absentee ballot lists.
