May 18, 2020

Voting Rights Groups Challenge New Jersey Signature Match Ballot Requirement 

New Jersey Must Provide Notice and Opportunity to Cure Rejected Mail-in Ballots in Time for July 7 Election 

NEWARK—Today, Campaign Legal Center, New Jersey Institute for Social Justice, and Kaufman Lieb Lebowitz & Frick LLP filed a lawsuit on behalf of the League of Women Voters of New Jersey, the NAACP New Jersey State Conference, and an individual New Jersey voter, asking for relief for voters from the state’s flawed ballot signature match requirements which, each election, often impacts at least one percent of all mail-in voters.

As New Jersey continues to deal with the COVID-19 pandemic, Governor Phil Murphy announced Friday that mail ballots will automatically be sent to the state’s active Republican and Democratic voters, with applications sent to unaffiliated and inactive registered voters. The resultant surge in mail ballots underscores the urgent need for procedural safeguards to assure voters that they can cast their mail ballots with confidence.