STATEMENT OF SAMUEL A. NAPLES, VICE PRESIDENT AND SECRETARY, NEW JERSEY STATE ASSOCIATION OF COUNTY BOARDS OF ELECTION; ACCOMPANIED BY WILLIAM MCPHAIL, SUPERINTENDENT OF ELECTIONS FOR HUDSON COUNTY, N.J.

Mr. NAPLES. Mr. Chairman, I feel dutybound to say we should have further legislation in the State to guarantee the people the right of franchise in conformity with any plans that the Federal Government may adopt.

I have here before me a statement which I prepared, which is an endorsement of the resolution which is before this subcommittee respecting the residence requirements for voting in presidential elections.

Senate Joint Resolution 90, which proposes an amendment to the Constitution of the United States relative to residence requirements for voting in presidential elections, has the unanimous endorsement of the New Jersey State Association of County Boards of Election. Concerning the State of New Jersey and particularly my own county of Mercer, the record will disclose that in excess of 30,000 voters were deprived of their right of franchise in New Jersey in the presidential election of 1960, because they had moved out of the State and within the State from county to county.

It follows, therefore, that even with the adoption of this resolution that there would have to be action taken by the various States to conform to the purpose intended in the resolution under discussion or all those people moving from county to county in States like New Jersey would not be eligible to cast a ballot.

Senator KEFAUVER. You refer to that by Senator Keating?

Mr. NAPLES. Yes.

Senator KEFAUVER. Senate Joint Resolution 90.

Mr. NAPLES. That is right.

In Mr. McPhail's county, the figure would be four times as great as that. So we feel that this is a very serious situation within the State.

New Jersey now has under advisement a proposal to remedy this situation and at a hearing recently conducted by the legislature many recommendations were made to bring about such a change to permit people who move from one county to the other to cast a ballot, and also some provision for people who move outside the State to cast a ballot for the Office of President only.

I have given to counsel copies of those resolutions which are now before the New Jersey Legislature, which we hope they will adopt. Senator KEFAUVER. These will be included in the record.

(The documents referred to are as follows:)

[Assembly Joint Resolution No. 10]

STATE OF NEW JERSEY

Introduced January 23, 1961, by Assemblyman Musto, Referred to Committee on State, County, and Municipal Government

A Joint Resolution creating a commission to be known as the Election Laws Study Commission to study the statutes of the State relating to elections and providing for reports and recommendation by the commission to the Governor and the Legislature, and providing for an appropriation therefor

Whereas, Many sections of the election laws, as contained in Title 19 of the Revised Statutes, have been amended and laws supplementary to the said Title have been enacted; and

Whereas, In many instances certain sections of Title 19 of the Revised Statutes are contradictory, repetitious and some of them are outmoded and unnecessary; and

Whereas, There are areas of serious import such as campaign expenditures, primary and absentee voting laws which deserve serious consideration; and

Whereas, It is not practicable to coordinate the changes and modernize the provisions of the election laws by the process of further enacting amendatory and supplementary statutes; now, therefore,

Be it resolved by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:: 1. There is hereby created the Election Laws Study Commission. The commission shall consist of 8 members, 4 of whom shall be named by the Governor from the State at large; 2 of whom shall be named by the President of the Senate from the membership thereof, and 2 of whom shall be named by the Speaker of the General Assembly from the membership thereof. In the case of the 4 members to be named by the Governor, not more than 2 shall be of the same political party, and in the case of the 2 members to be named by the President of the Senate, they shall not be members of the same political party, and in the case of the 2 members to be named by the Speaker of the General Assembly, they shall not be of the same political party. Any vacancy in the membership of the commission shall be filled by appointment by the authority who named, the person whose membership in the commission ceased and thereby created a vacancy.

2. The commission shall select from among its members a chairman, a vicechairman and a treasurer, and a secretary who need not be a member of the commission. The commission may adopt by-laws for the purpose of facilitating the performance of its functions. The commission may employ such technical assistants as it deems necessary and fix their compensation, within the limits of its appropriations.

3. The commission is authorized, empowered and directed to study the statutes relating to elections, paying particular attention to the subject of campaign expenses, the use of voting machines, the absentee voting laws and the laws governing primary elections. The commission may call upon State, county and municipal officials for their co-operation. The commission is directed further to conduct hearings in various parts of the State in an endeavor to ascertain in what respect the election laws shall be simplified, correlated and revised.

4. The commission shall make such recommendations as it shall deem proper and prepare such legislation as it shall deem necessary to accomplish the purpose and shall make its report to the Governor and the next session of the Legislature.

5. This joint resolution shall take effect immediately.

[Assembly Concurrent Resolution No. 17]

STATE OF NEW JERSEY

Introduced January 16, 1961, by Assemblywoman Higgins, Referred to Committee on Revision and Amendment of Laws

A Concurrent Resolution proposing to amend Article II, paragraph 3 of the Constitution of the State of New Jersey

Be it resolved by the General Assembly of the State of New Jersey (the Senate concurring):

1. The following proposed amendment to the Constitution of the State of New Jersey is hereby agreed to:

PROPOSED AMENDMENT

Amend Article II, paragraph 3 of the Constitution to read as follows:

3. Every citizen of the United States, of the age of 21 years, who shall have been a resident of this State 6 months, and of the county in which he claims his vote 40 days, next before the election, shall be entitled to vote for all officers that now are or hereafter may be elective by the people, and upon all questions which may be submitted to a vote of the people; and every citizen of the United States, of the age of 21 years, who shall not be otherwise eligible to vote in any place and who shall have been a resident of the State and of the county in which he claims his vote 40 days, next before the election, shall be entitled to qualify and to vote for electors for President and Vice-President of the United States in such manner as the Legislature shall provide.

STATEMENT

The purpose of this proposed amendment to the Constitution is designed primarily to enable many citizens who are ineligible to vote in State and local elections to cast ballots for President and Vice-President.

In addition, it proposes to bring this county residency requirement in line with that for registration.

The provision as regards voting for President and Vice-President is in keeping with the existing laws in several States and with the recommendations made in numerous other States.

At the same time it will disqualify anyone entitled to vote in a State which allows persons who remove from that State to vote by absentee ballot for President and Vice-President.

The proposal has the support of many organizations and outstanding students of government throughout the country.

[Assembly Concurrent Resolution No. 18]

STATE OF NEW JERSEY

Introduced January 16, 1961, by Assemblywoman Higgins, referred to Committee on Revision and Amendment of Laws

A Concurrent Resolution proposing to amend Article II, paragraph 3 of the Constitution of the State of New Jersey

Be it resolved by the General Assembly of the State of New Jersey (the Senate concurring):

1. The following proposed amendment to the Constitution of the State of New Jersey is hereby agreed to:

PROPOSED AMENDMENT

Amend Article II, paragraph 3 of the Constitution to read as follows:

3. Every citizen of the United States, of the age of 21 years, who shall have been a resident of this State 6 months, and of the county in which he claims his vote 40 days, next before the election, shall be entitled to vote for all officers that now are or hereafter may be elective by the people, and upon all questions which may be submitted to a vote of the people; and any person registered as

a voter in any election district of this State who has removed or shall remove to another State or to another county within this State and is not able there to qualify to vote by reason of an insufficient period of residence in such State or county, shall, as a citizen of the United States, have the right to vote in the county from which he has removed so long as such disqualification by reason of insufficient residence shall continue, but such right to vote in the county from which he has removed shall be limited to voting for electors for President and Vice-President of the United States, and he shall have no right to vote in the county from which he has removed for any other office or upon any public question. Any such right to vote in the county from which he has removed shall be exercised only by Presidential Elector Absentee Ballot in such manner as the Legislature shall provide.

Mr. NAPLES. In my letter which I wrote under date of February 7 to Hon. John F. Kennedy I enclosed a resolution, copy of which is attached herewith, holding that it was within the province of the Federal Government to set up a plan for a uniform practice which will permit voters who move from one State to another to vote in a national election.

The American Heritage Foundation, one of the finest organizations in the Nation, whose purpose is to urge appropriate legislation by the Federal Government and the various States to liberalize registration and voting procedure and to bring about uniformity for all elections, estimates that approximately 19 million people had failed to vote in the presidential election of 1960 for various reasons as outlined in their latest bulletin, copy of which is attached herewith.

I have given the bulletin to counsel containing those statements. Senator KEFAUVER. This is for inclusion in the record?

Mr. NAPLES. Yes.

Senator KEFAUVER. I understand that a later witness, Mr. Brendan Byrne, executive director of the American Heritage Foundation, will discuss this bulletin. You referred to a resolution of the State Association of County Boards of Election of New Jersey. We will put that in the record at this point.

(The resolution referred to follows:)

STATE ASSOCIATION COUNTY BOARDS OF ELECTION

Jersey City, N.J.

Whereas in the past presidential election thousands of citizens in New Jersey and millions of citizens throughout the Nation were deprived of their right of franchise in voting for the President of the United States and in some instances for U.S. Senator and Congressman, because they lacked residence qualification in moving from one State to the other; and

Whereas it is the feeling of the Association of the County Boards of Election in New Jersey that this violates the constitutional rights of these voters; and Whereas it is important that all of the people eligible to cast a ballot should be permitted to do so; and

Whereas it is a problem for the National Government to set up the mechanics so that these voters can vote in a national election, and that because the Constitution of the United States guarantees to all of its citizens he right of franchise: Therefore be it

Resolved, That the New Jersey Association of County Boards of Election urge that Congress immediately adopt such legislation that shall be binding on each and every State of the Union, a uniform plan to permit these voters who move from one State to the other to partake in a national election, and the members of our association many who have served on study commissions in New Jersey stand ready to assist in any effort that will correct the situation and guarantee to all voters the right to cast their ballots in future national elections; and that

copies of this resolution be sent to the President of the United States, the Members of Congress from New Jersey, our two U.S. Senators, urging action thereon.

Signed by:

Attested by:

JOHN THEURER, President.

SAMUEL A. NAPLES,

Acting Secretary and Vice President.

Mr. NAPLES. But allowing that only half of this tremendous number are being deprived of their franchise rights for the reasons outlined in their report, it certainly is a travesty that in a democracy such as ours so many roadblocks are set up to deny people the right of franchise or eligibility for the right of franchise, that we sometimes wonder whether we are a true democracy.

In my own State we operate under a State law, yet we have a different procedure in each of the 21 counties. Yet there is no uniformity. Each board has a different procedure and the only hope that I see for uniformity is the action that is being taken by this committee, that will spur for legislation, particularly in my own State, so that we can bring about a uniform procedure.

For instance, we have voting machines in practically every county of New Jersey, with 92 percent of the population voting on voting machines, and seven counties, having eight percent of the population, do not have voting machines. We have been fighting for years to have a uniform practice and have presented legislation that machines be placed in every county. We would then be able to codify title. 19 an reduce it to half its size.

As a member of the elections study commission, we did that job, yet the legislature has not taken cognizance of the fact that the uniform practice which we set up in that codification would definitely be of invaluable aid to the voters of the State. And the only hope that we see is for the Senate of the United States, and the Congress, in taking some type of action, like this, that will act as a spur to enable the various States to do something about bringing about a uniformity that is sorely needed.

In all of the 50 States that comprise this Nation there are many different registration and voting requirements even with respect to age.

Some States permit people less than 21 years of age to cast a ballot, other States have residence requirements as high as 2 years, county and district requirements that are very indefinite and varying as to the number of days they should live in the district.

Many States require literacy tests. Many States require ability to read and write including excerpts from the Constitution of the United States and the State constitutions. Many States require other forms of literacy tests.

Attached herewith is a résumé of State requirements and it can be readily determined from a perusal of this analysis that unless we provide a uniform procedure for presidential elections, that millions will continue to be deprived of their right of franchise in the next presidential election.

I have that analysis here which I have given to counsel. Here is an extra copy which you may have.

Senator KEFAUVER. We appreciate the preparation of this table. We have one in a little bit different form in a study prepared by the Library of Congress which we will include in the appendix.