STOP the Vote by Mail Act

In Atlantic City, Craig Callaway has been synonymous with the absentee ballot. His involvement in local politics has injected uncertainty into the outcome of numerous local elections here in Atlantic County.

Investigators assigned to previous elections have uncovered instances of voters not requesting absentee ballots, but receiving them anyway; as well as voters being approached by campaign workers to gather their ballots.

In the face of this evidence, most elected officials would look toward reforming the absentee ballot system to ensure that there is no further abuse of a system that is flawed and desperately needs fixing.

But instead the State Legislature is now considering adoption of the so-called Vote by Mail Act, which would permit voters to be added to a list where they would automatically receive absentee ballots for every future election. The bill also allows family members or friends of a voter to add them to the list. This would enable Callaway-type political organizations to control thousands of ballots throughout New Jersey.

This bill cleared the Senate State Government Committee by a vote of 3-2. Atlantic County Senator James Whelan (D-2) voted in favor of the bill.

Whelan sponsored legislation last year to limit the number of messenger absentee ballots one person can courier to five, total. When the bill was considered in committee, the Chairman of Assembly State Government Committee at the time, Assemblyman Mims Hackett, asked that the bill be amended to increase the number of ballots one person can carry to ten because there are large families. Whelan obliged and immediately amended his legislation.

Hackett recently pled guilty to corruption charges.

When the Vote by Mail bill went through committee this past June, Whelan was asked why he didn’t seek to amend the legislation to provide a limit on the number of messenger ballots one person can carry. His response was that he would do that when the bill reached the Senate floor.

Why Whelan was so accommodating to Assemblyman Hackett last year in offering an amendment, but failed to amend this year’s legislation remains an open question.

What is clear is that real absentee ballot reform is necessary. But instead of providing voting safeguards, the State Legislature is trying to weaken state election laws to make it easier for big city political machines to manipulate absentee and messenger ballots, and allow them to conduct the same kind of the get-out-the-vote efforts that Craig Callaway has engaged in.

If you care about this issue and believe the State Legislature is moving in the wrong direction, its time for you to act. You can:

-- Sign our petition on this webpage and call Senator Whelan ((609) 383-1388) to demand that he vote “no” to the Vote by Mail bill and urge him to support real absentee ballot reform.

-- Call talk radio and write letters to the editor to bring more attention to this issue.

-- Talk to your friends and neighbors and educate them about this issue.

-- Make a contribution today to the Atlantic County Republican Committee so we have funds to combat voter fraud this fall.

-- Sign-up on our email list and organize your friends to vote against these political machines.

The Republican Party in Atlantic County stands for integrity in the election process. We believe that the right to vote and protecting it against fraud is fundamental to ensuring a healthy, free democracy. When that right is threatened, voters lose confidence in the system and fail to participate in the process.

If someone wants to vote, it is as easy as it can be. There is no need to further weaken the system and increase the potential for voter fraud or abuse.