Bucco, Corrado bill would nix automatic voter registration

State Sens. Tony Bucco (R-Boonton) and Kristin Corrado (R-Totowa) on Friday announced a bill that would suspend automatic voter registrations set off by visits to the Motor Vehicle Commission following reports the system was responsible for voters receiving duplicate ballots.

“When automatic voter registration was enacted, we raised red flags that New Jersey’s creaky voter database wasn’t designed to filter duplicate registrations submitted by a slew of government agencies,” Bucco said. “We now have confirmation from election officials that many of the duplicate ballots that voters have reported receiving can be traced directly to automatic voter registration at the MVC. After our warnings, this shouldn’t be a shock to anyone.”

In 2018, Gov. Phil Murphy signed a bill requiring the MVC to automatically register residents who requested a new driver’s permit, driver’s license or state ID unless the resident opted out.

The automatic registration system was responsible for creating duplicate entries within the Statewide Voter Registration System, leading to voters, usually women who went to the MVC for a name change, receiving more than one ballot. It was also responsible for a spike of registrations to defunct third parties.

“We simply don’t know how many people will end up with extra ballots for the upcoming general election, but it could be a lot, especially since the governor has ordered everyone to vote by mail,” Corrado said. “We trust that most people will do the right thing and destroy or return any extra ballots they receive. Still, if we want to be diligent about maintaining the integrity of our elections, we need to pause automatic voter registration until this problem is fixed.”