S 420 New Jersey Senate · 2026-2027 Regular Session

Permits extension of early voting period for regular municipal elections in May.

This bill (S 420) allows New Jersey municipalities holding regular elections in May to extend their early voting period from 4 days to 11 days before the election, if they adopt a local ordinance. It directly affects municipalities that conduct May municipal elections under the Uniform Nonpartisan Elections Law. Key provisions include requiring early voting sites to be public facilities (like libraries or courthouses, not schools), setting location limits based on county voter counts (e.g., 5-10 sites for counties with over 150,000 voters), and mandating that sites be geographically accessible. The bill amends existing voting law to provide this flexibility for May municipal elections only.

Bill status passed 3 of 5 stages cleared

Introduction

Jan 2026

Committee Review

Mar 2026

Senate Passage

Mar 2026

General Assembly Passage

Governor

Introduced Jan 13, 2026 Last action Mar 23, 2026

Maddy AI version diff · 1 comparison

What changed between versions

Introduced → Reprint · 6 edits

MODERATE

The Senate Judiciary Committee substantially expanded and restructured S420, transforming it from a narrow bill about extending early voting for May municipal elections into a comprehensive rewrite of New Jersey's entire early voting statute (C.19:15A-1). The committee extended early voting periods for both presidential and non-presidential primaries while reducing the maximum municipal election extension from 10 days to 7 days, and added new requirements for electronic poll books and specific voting machine types.

Scope change

Expanded from a narrow amendment limited to May municipal elections in nonpartisan municipalities to a comprehensive rewrite of the entire early voting statute (C.19:15A-1) covering all primary elections, general elections, and municipal elections statewide.

SCOPE

The bill's scope expanded dramatically from a single amendment addressing only May municipal elections to a full rewrite of the entire early voting statute covering all primary and general elections statewide.

The bill status changed from 'Introduced Pending Technical Review' to 'As reported by the Senate Judiciary Committee on March 19, 2026, with amendments,' indicating committee review and substantive changes were made.

TIMELINE

Early voting for non-presidential primary elections now starts on the 7th calendar day before (previously the 4th), extending the period from 3 days to 6 days.

Early voting for presidential primary elections now starts on the 7th calendar day before (previously the 6th), extending the period from 5 days to 6 days.

For regular municipal elections in May, the default early voting period remains 3 days (4th to 2nd calendar day before), but municipalities may now extend it to start on the 8th calendar day before (7 days total) instead of the 11th calendar day before (10 days total) proposed in the introduced version.

REQUIREMENT

Added a requirement that early voting be conducted using electronic poll books and optical-scan voting machines that read hand-marked paper ballots, or other voting machines that produce a voter-verifiable paper ballot.

Floor votes

How they voted

This bill passed the Senate by voice vote (no roll call recorded).

Full legislative history

Actions timeline

Total actions

Key actions

Committee

Mar 23, 2026

Upper · Passed

Passed by the Senate (30-8)

upper

Mar 5, 2026

Committee

Transferred to Senate Judiciary Committee

upper

Jan 13, 2026

Introduced

Introduced in the Senate, Referred to Senate State Government, Wagering, Tourism & Historic Preservation Committee

upper

2 primary · 0 co-sponsors