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Yahoo
2 days ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
New Jersey primary election polls open
Voters will select which candidates will face off in November, when the governorship and all 80 seats in the Assembly come up for a vote. (Ed Murray for New Jersey Monitor) It's primary day in New Jersey. The Garden State's voters will select which candidates will face off in November, when term-limited Gov. Phil Murphy's seat and all 80 seats in the Legislature's lower chamber come up for a vote. This year's contests have seen a swell of candidacies. Six Democrats and five Republicans are seeking their parties' nods for governor, and more candidates are seeking seats in the Assembly than at any point since 1993. On the Republican side, contractor Justin Barbera, state Sen. Jon Bramnick, former Assemblyman Jack Ciattarelli, ex-Englewood Cliffs Mayor Mario Kranjac, and longtime radio host Bill Spadea hope to flip the governorship after eight years of Democratic rule. The Democratic contest includes Newark Mayor Ras Baraka, Jersey City Mayor Steve Fulop, Rep. Josh Gottheimer, Rep. Mikie Sherrill, teachers union president Sean Spiller, and ex-state Sen. Steve Sweeney. They are hoping to win a third consecutive gubernatorial term for their party for the first time since Gov. Richard Hughes succeeded Gov. Robert Meyner more than half a century ago. Polls have shown Sherrill and Ciattarelli leading their respective races, though public surveys of both contests have been rare, and the sheer number of candidates makes the results unpredictable, particularly on the Democratic side. Twenty-five of the state's 40 legislative districts will play host to intraparty challenges Tuesday. Most of those come on the Democratic side and from candidates recruited by and aligned with Fulop, though Republicans face primaries in some districts too. It's likely some sitting lawmakers will see their tenures ended by Tuesday's results. In the 31st District, Assemblyman William Sampson (D-Hudson) and Hudson County Commissioner Jerry Walker face Assemblywoman Barbara McCann Stamato (D-Hudson) and Bayonne Councilwoman Jacqueline Weimmer, who are running under Fulop's slogan. In the neighboring 32nd District, Assemblywoman Jessica Ramirez (D-Hudson) and Jersey City Councilman Yousef Saleh — both on Fulop's slate — face party-backed candidates Hoboken Public Library director Jennie Pu and Crystal Fonseca, division director of buildings and street maintenance in Jersey City. Hoboken Mayor Ravi Bhalla and former state administrator Katie Brennan, whose accusations of sexual assault against a 2017 Murphy campaign staffer roiled Trenton, are also seeking the nod in the 32nd District. Close to half a million New Jerseyans had already voted by Monday morning. Statewide, 148,686 residents cast in-person ballots at early voting stations during the state's six days of early voting, said a spokesperson for the Department of State. Another 317,984 had returned mail-in ballots as of Monday morning. Election officials will accept mail ballots postmarked by Election Day for six days after polls close at 8 p.m. Tuesday. Residents vote in person at their polling place on Tuesday or by delivering their vote-by-mail ballot to a secure ballot drop box or their county board of elections.
Yahoo
28-02-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
A New Jersey voting rights act would give us needed protections
If you think New Jersey is immune from existing and future voting barriers, think again, the authors write. (Ed Murray for New Jersey Monitor) By Isabel Molina and Nuzhat Chowdhury Rep. John Lewis would have turned 85 last week. A towering figure in the civil rights movement and a beloved champion for voting rights, it is easy to imagine the critical assignment he would give us in these perilous times: No matter how bleak things seem, do not give up the fight. He'd likely remind us to remember our history and our obligation to protect our hard-won successes. And he would implore us to use all the tools available to us not only to protect our democracy, but to expand it. Unfortunately, by failing to move the New Jersey voting rights act named after Lewis in the Legislature, New Jersey is falling woefully short — at a time when it couldn't be more important to protect voting rights. Right now, Congress is proposing passage of the deceptively named 'SAVE Act' (Safeguard American Voter Eligibility Act). Put simply, this bill would require Americans who newly register, reregister, or update their voter registration to provide their birth certificate, passport, or other documentation in order to prove their citizenship. Common IDs like driver's licenses, military IDs, or tribal IDs would be no longer accepted. Voters like married women who have changed their names and voters who don't have access to birth certificates may be prevented from registering. Moreover, registration updates would have to be done in person, making registering online or by mail impossible and making voter registration unworkable for millions of eligible voters. Make no mistake: the SAVE Act is a thinly veiled attempt to prevent people from voting. For decades, voting rights have been gradually weakened on the federal level, including by the U.S. Supreme Court. A case called Shelby v. Holder tore the heart out of the Voting Rights Act, leading to a wave of voter suppression laws across the country. Voters — particularly voters of color — now face more barriers to voting, including longer lines, fewer polling sites close to their homes, and limited language access. In addition, the federal Voting Rights Act continues to face attacks from the court, Project 2025, and the Trump administration. New Jersey must protect our voters from this assault on our rights. If you think New Jersey is immune from existing and future voting barriers, think again. Black voters and other voters of color in New Jersey are already more likely than white voters to face long lines and late poll openings. Voters in New Jersey face registration issues, voter intimidation at the polls, incorrect and discriminatory requests for voter identification, and a lack of accessible polling locations. Lack of language access is also a persistent barrier for New Jersey voters, depriving a significant number of New Jersey voters of voting materials or assistance in the language they speak — either because their community falls under the population threshold required by the federal Voting Rights Act or because they speak a language like Portuguese that's not covered at all. Fortunately, our own state voting rights act — the John R. Lewis Voter Empowerment Act of New Jersey — would offer robust voting protections and has already passed through a committee in the New Jersey Assembly. This legislation would provide essential voting protections, including increased language assistance and strong safeguards against voter intimidation, deception, and obstruction at the polls. It would also provide oversight to ensure that local and state voting rules do not unfairly limit the ability of voters of color and other protected groups to cast their ballots. Yet, with the New Jersey voting rights act still awaiting its next hearing, New Jersey legislators have their collective foot off the gas. Despite the state of emergency for our democracy, we remain lagging behind seven other states — including New York, Virginia, and Connecticut — that have passed their own state voting rights acts. It becomes clearer every day that our federal government is in the business of destroying — not protecting — our democracy. That means it's up to the states to step up, protect our rights, and exercise our power. As we approach the 60th anniversary of the iconic march for voting rights across the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Alabama, where Rep. Lewis and other brave activists were brutally beaten in their quest for equal voting rights, New Jersey needs to step up. Isabel Molina is the environmental justice policy manager at the New Jersey League of Conservation Voters and Nuzhat Chowdhury is the director of the democracy & justice program at the New Jersey Institute for Social Justice. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
