Politics & Government

State Senate Passes Special Election Bills

Bills that would move the election date and allow early voting now head for Christie's unlikely signature.

A pair of bills aimed at altering the special U.S. Senate election were passed in the state Senate Thursday following a spirited debate and with votes split along party lines.

The first bill, sponsored by Sen. Shirley Turner, D-Mercer, calls for moving the Nov. 5 general election to the Oct. 16 polling date called by Gov. Chris Christie to elect a U.S. Senator to replace late Sen. Frank Lautenberg.

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The second bill, sponsored by Sen. Nia H.Gill, D-Bergen, would allow registered voters the opportunity to vote in the Nov. 5 election at the same time and polling place as the Oct. 16 special election.

Both bills, which were each passed in the state Assembly on Monday, were passed 22-15.  They will now be sent to Christie for his signature.

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“What we’re trying to do is give Gov. Christie a choice to make better choices than he has made,’’  Gill said on the Senate floor prior to the votes.

Following the death of Sen. Frank Lautenberg, Christie set a date of Oct. 16, a Wednesday, for polling to elect a new senator to finish out Lautenberg’s term, which is up in 2014.

The decision was derided by Democrats and was challenged in court. Two lower courts said Christie was within his rights to call the special election three weeks before the regularly scheduled election, when Christie will stand for re-election.

Last week, the state Supreme Court said it would not hear the case, effectively killing the legal challenge.

An occasionally testy exchange between Democrat supporters and Republican detractors preceded Thursday’s votes in the Senate.

Sen. Robert Singer, R-Monmouth/Ocean, at one point asked Turner if Newark Mayor Cory Booker asked her to craft the legislation. When Turner said she hadn’t spoken to Booker in years, Singer asked if U.S. Rep. Frank Pallone or Rush Holt asked her to craft the bill.

Pallone, Holt, Booker and state Assembly Speaker Sheila Oliver are all vying for the Democratic nomination to fill Lautenberg’s term.

Turner said no one influenced the bill.

“It’s seems strange to me that candidates who are running -- none of them seem to have had an objection to that October date,” Singer said. “The ones who are most affected and they absolutely seem to be fine with it.”

Turner said her bill would save an estimated $24 million it would cost the state to run the Oct. 16 special election and the Aug. 13 primary.

Counties throughout New Jersey have said they don’t have the money to pay for the extra elections and some are asking for the money up front.

 “We would save money, and increase the faith in the political process,’’ Turner said.

Sen. Sam Thompson, R-Middlesex/Monmouth, said if Democrats wanted to find bi-partisan support for legislation, it should be a bill that would move the U.S. Senate election to Nov., 2014, when Lautenberg’s term ends.

“If the governor thought he had bipartisan support on it, it would solve all the problems,” he said.


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