A Senate panel is set to review legislation Monday that would direct the secretary of state to tell New Jersey voters they could be disenfranchised if they wait until the last minute to send in their mail-in ballots.
The bill before the Senate’s state government committee would order the launch of a $100,000 public awareness campaign to warn of changes at the United States Postal Service that are likely to delay the postmarking of some timely delivered mail-in ballots beyond Election Day.
The Postal Service in December finalized a rule that reduced the number of times per day that mail flows from post offices to processing facilities where postmarks are applied, meaning some mail won’t reach those facilities and receive a postmark the same day a person sends it.
“Now, the postmark is whenever it’s processed at the facility. That could be the day of. That could be two days later. There’s no way of knowing,” said Nuzhat Chowdhury, director of the New Jersey Institute for Social Justice’s democracy and justice program. “But of course, if that postmark does show up after Election Day, then that ballot will be invalidated.