Gopal Begins Bill Proposals for Quicker Vote Count
Senator Gopal is pursuing legislation to establish quicker vote count methods for elections in New Jersey.
OCEAN TOWNSHIP – Senator Vin Gopal has announced his plan to pursue legislation relating to the timely counting of election results, and ensuring the county boards of elections offices have what they need to improve their vote-by-mail counting and processing capabilities. The pieces of legislation will be introduced into the State Senate in the upcoming weeks.
The first piece of legislation involves the creation of a Vote By Mail (VBM) Task Force. This bill would establish a task force with the overall goal of improving vote-by-mail functions in New Jersey. The task force would provide regular reports on what is needed to make the process run more smoothly, including what would be needed to ensure quick counting of VBM ballots in future elections.
“Should constituents choose to vote-by-mail in future elections, we need to have a system in place that will create a quicker vote count method than the one we currently have set up in the state of New Jersey,” Senator Gopal (D-Monmouth) said. “Establishing this Vote-By-Mail Task Force will help identify what is needed to begin the process of establishing a quicker vote count for future elections.”
The second piece of legislation Senator Gopal plans to introduce would require the Department of State (DOS) to provide a grant program that would distribute funds to counties for improving their vote-by-mail processing capabilities.
Senator Gopal continued, “Our main goal is to ensure each county has the technology they need to provide safe, secure, and efficient vote-by-mail counting methods. Establishing funding for these counties is a positive step towards making sure each board of elections is well equipped to handle vote-by-mail ballots in the years to come if a voter chooses to use that method.”