SENATE BUDGET AND APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE

STATEMENT TO

SENATE, No. 4835

with committee amendments

STATE OF NEW JERSEY

DATED:  NOVEMBER 13, 2025

      The Senate Budget and Appropriations Committee reports favorably and with committee amendments Senate Bill No. 4835.

      As amended by the committee, this bill allows a voter to cure the voter’s mail-in ballot if the voter failed to insert the voted mail-in ballot in the inner envelope, if the voter failed to sign or complete the certificate on the inner envelope, if the inner or outer envelope is missing or unsealed, or if the seal appears to be tampered with.

      Under current law, each mail-in voter is required to complete the voter’s mail-in ballot and insert it in the inner envelope, which includes the Certificate of Mail-in Voter that is attached to the flap of the inner envelope.  The voter must seal the inner envelope, sign the certificate, and then place the inner envelope containing the mail-in ballot inside the outer envelope for mailing to the county board of elections.  Under current law, when a ballot would be disqualified because of a missing or discrepant signature, the voter is permitted to cure that defect.  Under current law, ballots are disqualified if they arrive at the county board of elections without being enclosed inside the inner envelope, if the certificate is not signed, if the inner or outer envelope is missing or unsealed, or if the seal appears to be tampered with.  Voters who return mail-in ballots with these deficiencies are not given the opportunity to cure their ballots in order to have them counted.  Only voters whose ballots are disqualified on the basis of a missing or discrepant signature are currently allowed to cure their ballots.

      The bill would give the voter the opportunity to submit a new mail-in ballot if the voter failed to enclose the ballot in the inner envelope, sign the certificate, if the voter failed to provide or properly seal the inner or outer envelope, or if the seal appears to be tampered with.  The county board of elections is directed to provide the voter with a new ballot and a cure letter informing the voter of the defect.  Under the bill, as amended, the voter has the opportunity to cure the defect by submitting the new completed ballot by mail, returning it to the county board of elections in person, or placing it into a ballot drop box, in accordance with the same timeframes applicable to the return of completed mail-in ballots provided under current law. 

      The bill would also permit a voter who receives a cure letter as a result of such defects, or due to a missing or discrepant signature, in the submitted mail-in ballot to vote in-person either during the early voting period or on election day using a provisional ballot instead of submitting a new mail-in ballot. 

COMMITTEE AMENDMENTS:

      The committee amended the bill to:

      (1)  specify that a voter may return the new, completed mail-in ballot to the county board of elections in person, by mail, or placing it into a ballot drop box in accordance with the same timeframes applicable to the return of completed mail-in ballots provided under current law;

      (2)  deletes language that would have required the completed ballots to be returned in accordance with the same requirements, procedures, and timeframes specified for the completion and submission of cure forms; and

      (3)  amend a provision of current law to further clarify that a voter who is eligible to cure a defect on their ballot may vote in person at a polling place using a provisional ballot.

FISCAL IMPACT:    

      Fiscal information for this bill is currently unavailable.