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New Jersey Public Question 3, Delayed State Legislative Redistricting Amendment (2020)

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New Jersey Delayed State Legislative Redistricting Amendment
Flag of New Jersey.png
Election date
November 3, 2020
Topic
Redistricting measures
Status
Approveda Approved
Type
Constitutional amendment		Origin
State legislature

New Jersey Public Question 3, the Delayed State Legislative Redistricting Amendment, was on the ballot in New Jersey as a legislatively referred constitutional amendment on November 3, 2020. Public Question 3 was approved.

A "yes" vote supported this constitutional amendment to: 

* postpone the state legislative redistricting process until after the election on November 2, 2021, if the state receives federal census data after February 15, 2021;

* keep the current state legislative districts in place until 2023; and

* use the delayed timeline in future redistricting cycles if the census data is received after February 15.

A "no" vote opposed this constitutional amendment, keeping the requirement that new state legislative district maps be certified within one month of the state receiving federal census data or February 1, whichever date is later. 


Election results

New Jersey Public Question 3

Result Votes Percentage

Approved Yes

2,225,089 57.79%
No 1,625,348 42.21%
Results are officially certified.
Source


Overview

What did constitutional amendment change about redistricting?

See also: Changes to the New Jersey Constitution

The constitutional amendment was designed to postpone state legislative redistricting until after the election on November 2, 2021, should the state receive federal census data after February 15, 2021. Therefore, the existing state legislative districts, which had been used since 2011, could remain in use for the 2021 election, and the state legislative elections in 2023 would be the first to use districts based on data from the 2020 U.S. Census. The constitutional amendment also allowed this delayed timeline in future redistricting cycles should federal census data be received after February 15 in 2031, 2041, 2051, and so on.[1]

In 2020, what was the schedule for state legislative redistricting?

See also: Background

As of 2020, the New Jersey Constitution required the state legislative redistricting commission to pass a redistricting plan within a month of receiving the official census data. Following the 2010 U.S. Census, data was received on February 3, 2011, and a new state legislative districts map was adopted on April 3, 2011. Primaries using the new districts were held on June 7, 2011.

In 2021, state legislative primaries were scheduled for June 8. The U.S. Census Bureau was required to deliver data needed for redistricting to the states before April 1, 2021. However, the Bureau asked Congress to extend the deadline to July 31, 2021, due to delays related to the coronavirus pandemic.[2]

How was the constitutional amendment placed on the ballot?

See also: Path to the ballot

Both chambers of the New Jersey State Legislature passed the constitutional amendment on July 30, 2020. In the General Assembly, the vote was 51 to 26. In the State Senate, the vote was 25 to 15. Legislative Democrats supported the amendment. Legislative Republicans, with the exception of one Senate Republican, opposed the amendment.[3]

Senate Majority Whip Nicholas Scutari (D-22) stated, “[A delay in receiving census data] will make it all but impossible to get the accurate information needed to draw legislative districts that are fair and accurate. An undercount will not only result in reduced federal funding, but also will have a negative impact on fair representation in the Legislature.”[4] Doug Steinhardt, the chairperson of the New Jersey Republican Party, responded to the amendment, saying, "The people of New Jersey deserve legislators that reflect the political and demographic makeup of our great state, and they haven’t enjoyed that in at least a decade. Democrats pushing this amendment to delay redistricting are trying to kill a fly with a sledgehammer, and are aiming to extend their majority for an additional two years."[5]

Text of measure

Ballot question

The ballot question was as follows:[1]

“
CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT TO CHANGE THE LEGISLATIVE REDISTRICTING SCHEDULE IF CENSUS DATA IS DELAYED

Do you approve amending the Constitution to change when new legislative districts are created if the federal census data is delayed?

The current COVID-19 pandemic has delayed census data collection. If New Jersey does not receive the census data in a timely manner, new legislative districts may not be ready in time for State legislative elections in the year ending in one.

This change to the redistricting schedule will allow legislators to be elected that year from their existing districts for their two-year term in office. The new districts will be used starting with the next scheduled general election for the State legislature.[6]

”

Ballot summary

The interpretive statement was as follows:[1]

“
INTERPRETIVE STATEMENT

This constitutional amendment changes when new legislative districts are created if the federal census data is delayed.

The United States Constitution requires that a census be taken every ten years to count the people living in the country. Census data is then used to create new legislative districts to ensure residents have equal representation from elected officials. However, the current COVID-19 pandemic has delayed census data collection. This may delay census data to the states and may affect the creation of new legislative districts.

The State Constitution requires an Apportionment Commission to create new legislative districts every ten years after the federal census is completed. If the census data is delayed, the new legislative districts may not be created in a timely manner to hold elections.

This constitutional amendment requires the commission to delay creating the new districts if the Governor receives the federal census data after February 15 of the year ending in one. The commission will adopt the new districts after the November general election, but not later than March 1 of the year ending in two.

The new districts will be used starting with legislative elections in the year ending in three. They will continue to be used until new districts are again created by the Apportionment Commission after the next federal census.

For the June primary and November general elections in the year ending in one, Senators and Assembly members will use their existing districts to run for a term of two years. The old districts will also be in effect in the year ending in two if any legislative election is held in that year.

This amendment requires the commission to begin conducting its business when the Governor receives the census data. It also requires the eleventh member of the commission to be appointed by the Chief Justice of the New Jersey Supreme Court within one month after the Governor receives the census data.

Nothing in this amendment will alter the appointment of the members of the commission made by the State political party chairs pursuant to Article IV, Section III, paragraph 1 of the State Constitution on or before November 15, and certified by the Secretary of State on or before December 1, of the year in which the census is taken.[6]

”

Constitutional changes

See also: Article IV, New Jersey Constitution

The ballot measure added a Paragraph 4 to Section 3 of Article IV of the New Jersey Constitution. The following underlined text was added:[1]

Note: Hover over the text and scroll to see the full text.

4. Notwithstanding the provisions of paragraphs 1, 2, and 3 of this Section III, when the receipt by the Governor of the official decennial census of the United States for New Jersey occurs after February 15 of the year ending in one, following the year in which the census is taken, the commission shall certify the establishment of Senate and Assembly districts and the apportionment of Senators and members of the General Assembly to the Secretary of State after the November general election of that year ending in one, but not later than March 1 of the year ending in two. The commission shall begin conducting its business upon the receipt by the Governor of the official decennial census of the United States for New Jersey, and the eleventh member of the commission shall be appointed by the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of New Jersey within one month of the Governor’s receipt of that census data. Such establishment and apportionment shall be used for the election of members of the Senate and General Assembly beginning with elections conducted in the year ending in three, and elections thereafter, and shall remain unaltered until the following decennial census of the United States for New Jersey shall have been received by the Governor.

The Senate and Assembly districts certified to the Secretary of State by the previous Apportionment Commission for the previous decade shall remain in effect in that year ending in one and in the year ending in two, and shall be used for legislative elections in those years.

For the election of members of the Senate and General Assembly occurring in November of that year ending in one, members shall be elected by the legally qualified voters of their district as drawn by the previous Apportionment Commission for the previous decade, for terms beginning at noon of the second Tuesday in January next following their election and ending at noon of the second Tuesday in January two years thereafter.[6]

Readability score

See also: Ballot measure readability scores, 2020
Using the Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level (FKGL and Flesch Reading Ease (FRE) formulas, Ballotpedia scored the readability of the ballot title and summary for this measure. Readability scores are designed to indicate the reading difficulty of text. The Flesch-Kincaid formulas account for the number of words, syllables, and sentences in a text; they do not account for the difficulty of the ideas in the text. The state legislature wrote the ballot language for this measure.


The FKGL for the ballot title is grade level 12, and the FRE is 42. The word count for the ballot title is 117, and the estimated reading time is 31 seconds. The FKGL for the ballot summary is grade level 13, and the FRE is 39. The word count for the ballot summary is 375, and the estimated reading time is 1 minute, 40 seconds.


Support

Suppoters

Officials


Arguments

  • Asm. John McKeon (D-27): “There’s just not a lot of good options here. None of us created this virus. None of us asked that the census bureau pause by four months what they would have ordinarily been doing.”
  • State Sen. Vin Gopal (D-11): “Right now, minority communities, including the Hispanic and Asian communities, are drastically underrepresented in our State Legislature—in part because old Census records haven’t kept up with changing demographics. If we want to give everyone a voice in our government, we must draw legislative districts that accurately and faithfully reflect the most up-to-date Census data, while also drawing on comprehensive input from the public that this data represents. … Three municipalities in my own district have Census response rates below 50 percent—far below the State average—largely due to the difficulties of outreach during the COVID-19 pandemic. If we allow redistricting to go forward without fully counting these communities, we have failed them. That’s unacceptable. … We owe it to New Jersey’s diverse voters and communities to make sure that nobody is undercounted. The best way to do so is to pass this constitutional amendment this fall.”
  • State Sen. Nick Scutari (D-22): "We already know that the census will be delayed because of the COVID-19 pandemic, and the delay could become even longer. That will make it all but impossible to get the accurate information needed to draw legislative districts that are fair and accurate. An undercount will not only result in reduced federal funding, but also will have a negative impact on fair representation in the Legislature. The amendment will help protect communities of color and other hard-to-count populations that stand to make significant gains due to increases in their numbers over the last decade."


Opposition

Opponents

Officials

Political Parties


Arguments

  • Doug Steinhardt, chairperson of the New Jersey Republican Party: "Redistricting is not about getting a Republican map or a Democrat map, it’s about getting a fair map. The people of New Jersey deserve legislators that reflect the political and demographic makeup of our great state, and they haven’t enjoyed that in at least a decade. Democrats pushing this amendment to delay redistricting are trying to kill a fly with a sledgehammer, and are aiming to extend their majority for an additional two years."
  • State Sen. Christopher Bateman (R-16): "This measure is unnecessary and it’s extreme. It’s not about fairness or accuracy. It’s about protecting incumbents and the majority party’s two decades of control in the legislature."
  • Asm. Christopher DePhillips (R-40): "The resolution simply offers a solution in search of a problem. Late census data is nothing new in the state of New Jersey … Here the resolution offers permanent constitutional changes under the guise of the pandemic. But if this were really just about the pandemic, the resolution would only offer a one-time fix and it does not. Let’s not be so cavalier about amending the Constitution in perpetuity."
  • State Sen. Robert Singer (R-30): "This actually shortchanges the minority populations of this state. This by itself is a racist move to do this type of thing. Don’t we care?"
  • Henal Patel, the director of the New Jersey Institute for Social Justice’s Democracy and Justice Program: “It will exacerbate the cracks of structural racism in our foundation by using the existing outdated legislative maps which do not include the substantial growth of people of color in New Jersey since 2010, thereby diluting the political strength influence and power to which people of color and are entitled based on their composition of New Jersey's population, as it exists right now.”


Media editorials

Support

Ballotpedia had not identified media editorial boards that published editorials in support of the ballot measure.

Opposition

The following media editorial boards published an editorial opposing the ballot measure:

  • The Philadelphia Inquirer Editorial Board: But changing the constitution to automatically delay redistricting every time census data is only slightly late is a permanent solution to a temporary problem. Redistricting delays are advantageous to incumbents and dilute the influence of growing communities. New Jersey voters should vote No on Question 3.


Background

Delays to 2020 U.S. Census

See also: United States census, 2020
Covid vnt.png
Coronavirus pandemic
Select a topic from the dropdown below to learn more.


States use data from the decennial U.S. Census to draw congressional and state legislative districts. In March 2020, households began receiving information on how to respond to the Census. On April 13, the U.S. Census Bureau announced that field operations were delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The self-response phase of data collection was also extended, with the end date moved from July 31, 2020, to September 30, 2020.[2]

Statutory deadlines required the U.S. Census Bureau to deliver apportionment counts to the president by December 31, 2020. It was required to deliver data needed for redistricting to the states by April 1, 2021.[2]

The U.S. Census Bureau asked Congress to amend the federal statute to extend the deadlines for delivering census data to the president and states. It requested that the deadline be moved from December 31, 2020, to April 30, 2021, for data to be delivered to the president. It requested that the deadline be moved from April 1, 2021, to July 31, 2021, for data to be delivered to the states for redistricting purposes.[2]

In 2010, the U.S. Census Bureau released data to the states on a rolling basis until the deadline. In 2011, New Jersey received the data needed for redistricting on February 3.[7]

Redistricting in New Jersey

See also: Redistricting in New Jersey

In New Jersey, the boundaries of congressional and state legislative districts are drawn by politician redistricting commissions.

Congressional

The congressional redistricting commission is comprised of 13 members, who are appointed as follows:

  • The majority and minority leaders of each chamber of the New Jersey State Legislature appoint two commissioners a piece (for a total of eight members).
  • The chairs of the state's two major political parties each appoint two members to the commission (for a total of four members). Commissioners appointed by the political parties cannot be members of Congress or congressional employees.
  • The first 12 commissioners appoint the last member. This member cannot have held public office in the state within the previous five-year period. If the first 12 commissioners cannot agree on an appointment, they must submit two names to the New Jersey Supreme Court. The court must then appoint the final commissioner.

If the congressional redistricting commission fails to reach an agreement about a redistricting plan, it must submit two plans to the state Supreme Court, which must in turn select from those two plans a final map.

State

The state legislative redistricting commission comprises 10 members. The chairs of the state's two major political parties each appoint five members to the commission. In the event that this commission is unable to reach an agreement about a redistricting plan, the state Supreme Court may appoint a tie-breaking member.

State law requires that state legislative districts are (a) contiguous, (b) "nearly compact as possible," and (c) must keep municipalities intact, except when laws require otherwise.

Election policy on the ballot in 2020

In 2020, voters in 14 states voted on 18 ballot measures addressing election-related policies. One of the measures addressed campaign finance, one were related to election dates, five addressed election systems, three addressed redistricting, five addressed suffrage, and three addressed term limits.

Click Show to read details about the election-related measures on statewide ballots in 2020.

Referred amendments on the ballot

From 1995 through 2019, the New Jersey State Legislature referred 32 constitutional amendments to the ballot. Voters approved 29 and rejected three of the referred amendments. Half of the amendments (16 of 32) were referred to the ballot during even-numbered election years. The remaining 50 percent of the amendments (16 of 32) appeared on the ballot during odd-numbered election years. The average number of amendments appearing on the ballot during an even-numbered election year was around one. The approval rate at the ballot box was 90.6 percent during the 24-year period from 1995 through 2019. The rejection rate was 9.4 percent.

Legislatively-referred constitutional amendments, 1995-2019
Total number Approved Percent approved Defeated Percent defeated Even-year average Even-year median Even-year minimum Even-year maximum
32 29 90.63% 3 9.38% 1.33 1.50 0 3

Path to the ballot

Amending the New Jersey Constitution

See also: Amending the New Jersey Constitution

In New Jersey, there are two avenues for the state Legislature to refer a constitutional amendment to the ballot. First, the legislature can refer an amendment to the ballot through a 60 percent vote of both chambers during one legislative session. Second, the legislature can refer an amendment through a simple majority vote (50%+1) in each legislative chamber during two successive legislative sessions. The governor's signature is not needed to place a constitutional amendment on the ballot.

ACR 188 in the state Legislature

On July 6, 2020, the constitutional amendment was introduced as Assembly Concurrent Resolution (ACR 188). Both chambers of the New Jersey State Legislature passed ACR 188 on July 30, 2020. In the General Assembly, the vote was 51 to 26. In the State Senate, the vote was 25 to 15.[3]

Vote in the New Jersey General Assembly
July 30, 2020
Requirement: Three-fifths (60 percent) vote of all members in each chamber
Number of yes votes required: 48  Approveda
YesNoNot voting
Total51263
Total percent63.75%32.50%3.75%
Democrat5001
Republican0262
Vote in the New Jersey State Senate
July 30, 2020
Requirement: Three-fifths (60 percent) vote of all members in each chamber
Number of yes votes required: 24  Approveda
YesNoNot voting
Total25150
Total percent62.50%37.50%0.00%
Democrat2400
Republican1150

How to cast a vote

See also: Voting in New Jersey

Click "Show" to learn more about voter registration, identification requirements, and poll times in New Jersey.

See also

External links

Footnotes

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 New Jersey State Legislature, "Assembly Concurrent Resolution 188," accessed July 31, 2020
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 U.S. Census Bureau, "2020 Census Operational Adjustments Due to COVID-19," accessed August 10, 2020
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 New Jersey State Legislature, "ACR 188 Overview," accessed July 30, 2020
  4. ↑ Insider NJ, "Senate Sends Redistricting Plan To the Voters," July 30, 2020
  5. ↑ Insider NJ, "NJGOP Statement On Redistricting Constitutional Amendment," July 30, 2020
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source. Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; name "quotedisclaimer" defined multiple times with different content
  7. ↑ U.S. Census Bureau, "U.S. Census Bureau Delivers New Jersey's 2010 Census Population Totals, Including First Look at Race and Hispanic Origin Data for Legislative Redistricting," February 3, 2020
  8. ↑ Alaska Division of Elections, "Alaska's Better Elections Initiative," accessed January 6, 2020
  9. ↑ Colorado General Assembly, "Senate Bill 42 (2019)," accessed September 5, 2019
  10. ↑ Florida Department of Elections, "Initiative 19-07," accessed March 14, 2019
  11. ↑ Massachusetts Attorney General, "Initiative 19-10: Initiative Petition for a Law to Implement Ranked-Choice Voting in Elections," accessed August 7, 2019
  12. ↑ Mississippi State Legislature, "House Concurrent Resolution 47," accessed June 30, 2020
  13. ↑ Missouri Legislature, "SJR 38 Full Text," accessed February 10, 2020
  14. ↑ New Jersey State Legislature, "Assembly Concurrent Resolution 188," accessed July 31, 2020
  15. ↑ U.S. Census Bureau, "2020 Census Operational Adjustments Due to COVID-19," accessed August 10, 2020
  16. ↑ Virginia General Assembly, "Senate Bill 236," accessed March 5, 2020
  17. ↑ Arkansas Legislature, "SJR 15 full text," accessed March 28, 2019
  18. ↑ Kentucky Legislature, "House Bill 405 Text," accessed March 11, 2020
  19. ↑ Missouri State Senate, "SJR 14," accessed April 17, 2019
  20. ↑ New Jersey Department of State, “Election laws - NJSA - 19:15-2,” accessed August 22, 2024
  21. ↑ 21.0 21.1 New Jersey Division of Elections, “Register to Vote!” accessed August 22, 2024
  22. ↑ New Jersey Division of Elections, “Where to Register in Person,” accessed August 22, 2024
  23. ↑ New Jersey Legislature, “Assembly Committee Substitute for Assembly, No. 2014,” April 13, 2018
  24. ↑ New Jersey Department of State, "Voter registration FAQ," accessed August 22, 2024
  25. ↑ New Jersey Voter Information Portal, "New Jersey Voter Registration Application," accessed November 1, 2024
  26. ↑ Under federal law, the national mail voter registration application (a version of which is in use in all states with voter registration systems) requires applicants to indicate that they are U.S. citizens in order to complete an application to vote in state or federal elections, but does not require voters to provide documentary proof of citizenship. According to the U.S. Department of Justice, the application "may require only the minimum amount of information necessary to prevent duplicate voter registrations and permit State officials both to determine the eligibility of the applicant to vote and to administer the voting process."
  27. ↑ New Jersey Department of State, "Frequently Asked Questions," accessed August 22, 2024
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