THE GOVERNOR’S COMMITTEE ON PREPARATORY RESEARCH FOR THE New Jersey Constitutional Convention

THE DESIRABILITY OF CONSTITUTIONAL PROVISION FOR REGISTRATION OF VOTERS

Constitutional Provisions for Registration

New Jersey’s present Constitution of 1844, as amended with respect to suffrage in 1875, makes no mention of registration, nor was there any provision on the subject in the prior Constitution of 1776.

The constitutions of 22 states make some reference to registration of voters. The most common provision is a requirement that voters be registered in order to qualify for the franchise. The language varies from a simple direction that voters be registered (e. g., Arizona) to a detailed schedule of the registration system (e. g., Louisiana).

In six states the legislature is merely authorized but not directed to enact the requirement of registration. Two states, Alabama and North Carolina, specify permanent registration in their constitutions, while New York specifically permits but does not compel permanent registration. Only one state, Arkansas, has a total prohibition of registration written into its constitution.

Purposes Served by Constitutional Provisions with Respect to Registration

A

Nearly all constitutions define the right of franchise. It is possible to argue that registration illegally restricts the right to vote, unless expressly sanctioned by the constitution.

In New Jersey, the power of the Legislature to require voters to qualify for the franchise by preliminary registration is not open to doubt, notwithstanding the absence of specific constitutional authorization. That was the decision of the Supreme Court in In re Freeholders of Hudson County, 105 N. J. Law 57, where Justice Kalish said:

“… the legislature may, in order to insure honest elections, pass laws to prevent those not entitled to vote from voting. And this is precisely the very object at which the statute in question is aimed.”

* * *

“On what sound theory this regulation, to protect the purity of the ballot box can be said to be in contravention of any constitutional right of a lawfully qualified voter has not been revealed to us. It needs no argument to establish that if an unqualified voter casts his ballot, it has the effect to impair the value of the vote of a duly qualified voter. It cannot, therefore, be logically said because the statute seeks to prevent the unqualified voter from voting at an election that such legislative action is an interference with the constitutional right of a voter, duly qualified to vote.

A qualified constitutional voter is entitled that his or her vote shall have the effect which the law intended it should have, and this would not be the case unless the ballot box is strictly guarded against illegal voting.”

This view of the law has general acceptance, for, in addition to New Jersey, the legislatures of 24 states have adopted registration of voters without explicit constitutional sanction.

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