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New Jersey Public Question 2, Raffle Money for Organizations Amendment (2021)
| New Jersey Public Question 2 | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Election date November 2, 2021 | |
| Topic Gambling | |
Status Approved | |
| Type Constitutional amendment | Origin State legislature |
| 2021 measures |
|---|
| November 2 |
New Jersey Public Question 1  |
| New Jersey Public Question 2 |
| Polls |
| Voter guides |
| Campaign finance |
| Signature costs |
New Jersey Public Question 2, the Raffle Money for Organizations Amendment, was on the ballot in New Jersey as a legislatively referred constitutional amendment on November 2, 2021. It was approved.
A "yes" vote supported allowing organizations that are permitted to hold raffles to keep the raffle proceeds to support themselves. |
A "no" vote opposed this constitutional amendment, thus continuing to prohibit organizations that can hold raffles, except veterans and senior citizen groups, to keep the raffle proceeds to support themselves. |
Election results
|
New Jersey Public Question 2 |
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|---|---|---|---|---|
| Result | Votes | Percentage | ||
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1,335,543 | 64.12% | ||
| No | 747,499 | 35.88% | ||
Overview
What did Public Question 2 change about raffle and bingo proceeds?
As of 2021, the New Jersey Constitution limited bingo and raffles to several types of organizations, including veterans, charitable, educational, religious, and fraternal organizations; civic and service clubs; senior citizen associations; and volunteer fire companies and volunteer first-aid and rescue squads. Of these organizations, veterans and senior citizen organizations were allowed to use proceeds from bingo or raffles to support their groups. The other organizations were prohibited from doing so.
Public Question 2 allowed all of the organizations that are otherwise permitted to hold bingo or raffles to use proceeds to support their groups.[1]
How did this measure get placed on the ballot?
- See also: Path to the ballot
The ballot measure was referred to the ballot by the New Jersey State Legislature. It received the unanimous support of legislators in the Senate and Assembly. Between 1995 and 2020, voters approved 91.4 percent (32 of 35) of the constitutional amendments that the legislature put on the ballot.
Text of measure
Ballot title
The ballot title was as follows:[1]
| “ |
CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT TO ALLOW CERTAIN ORGANIZATIONS AUTHORIZED TO CONDUCT GAMES OF CHANCE TO USE PROCEEDS FROM THOSE GAMES TO SUPPORT THE ORGANIZATION Do you approve amending the Constitution to permit all groups that are allowed to conduct bingo or raffles to use the net proceeds from those games to support their groups? Currently, only veterans and senior citizen groups may use the net proceeds from those games to support their groups. All other groups that are permitted to conduct bingo or raffles may only use the proceeds from those games for certain purposes. They are not permitted to use those proceeds to support their groups. The amendment would allow the other groups that conduct bingo or raffles to use the proceeds to support their groups as well.[2] |
” |
Ballot summary
The ballot summary was as follows:[1]
| “ |
The Constitution permits certain groups to conduct games of chance such as bingo or raffles. Those groups are veterans, charitable, educational, religious, fraternal, civic, and senior citizen groups; volunteer fire companies; and first-aid or rescue squads. The net proceeds from those games of chance may only be used for educational, charitable, patriotic, religious or public-spirited uses. However, veterans and senior citizen groups may also use the proceeds from those games to support their groups. This amendment would permit all of the groups authorized to conduct games of chance to use the net proceeds from conducting bingo or raffles to support their groups.[2] |
” |
Constitutional changes
- See also: Article IV, New Jersey Constitution
The ballot measure amended Section VII, Paragraph 2, Subparagraph (A) and Subparagraph (B) of Article IV of the New Jersey Constitution. The following struck-through text was deleted:
Note: Hover over the text and scroll to see the full text.
A. It shall be lawful for bona fide veterans, charitable, educational, religious or fraternal organizations, civic and service clubs, senior citizen associations or clubs, volunteer fire companies and first-aid or rescue squads to conduct, under such restrictions and control as shall from time to time be prescribed by the Legislature by law, games of chance of, and restricted to, the selling of rights to participate, the awarding of prizes, in the specific kind of game of chance sometimes known as bingo or lotto, played with cards bearing numbers or other designations, 5 or more in one line, the holder covering numbers as objects, similarly numbered, are drawn from a receptacle and the game being won by the person who first covers a previously designated arrangement of numbers on such a card, when the entire net proceeds of such games of chance are to be devoted to educational, charitable, patriotic, religious or public-spirited uses, and in the case of bona fide veterans' organizations and senior citizen associations or clubs to the support of such organizations, in any municipality, in which a majority of the qualified voters, voting thereon, at a general or special election as the submission thereof shall be prescribed by the Legislature by law, shall authorize the conduct of such games of chance therein;
B. It shall be lawful for the Legislature to authorize, by law, bona fide veterans, charitable, educational, religious or fraternal organizations, civic and service clubs, senior citizen associations or clubs, volunteer fire companies and first-aid or rescue squads to conduct games of chance of, and restricted to, the selling of rights to participate, and the awarding of prizes, in the specific kinds of games of chance sometimes known as raffles, conducted by the drawing for prizes or by the allotment of prizes by chance, when the entire net proceeds of such games of chance are to be devoted to educational, charitable, patriotic, religious or public-spirited uses, and in the case of bona fide veterans' organizations and senior citizen associations or clubs to the support of such organizations, in any municipality, in which such law shall be adopted by a majority of the qualified voters, voting thereon, at a general or special election as the submission thereof shall be prescribed by law and for the Legislature, from time to time, to restrict and control, by law, the conduct of such games of chance;[2]
Readability score
- See also: Ballot measure readability scores, 2021
| 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 Legislature wrote the ballot language for this measure.
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Support
Supporters
Officials
- State Sen. Chris Brown (R)
- State Sen. Thomas Kean Jr. (R)
- State Sen. Steven Oroho (R)
- State Sen. Samuel Thompson (D)
- State Sen. Loretta Weinberg (D)
- State Asm. Joann Downey (D)
- State Asm. Eric Houghtaling (D)
- State Asm. Gordon Johnson (D)
- State Asm. Yvonne Lopez (D)
- State Asm. Carol Murphy (D)
- State Asm. Parker Space (R)
- State Asm. Lisa Swain (D)
- State Asm. P. Christopher Tully (D)
- State Asm. Harold Wirths (R)
Opposition
If you are aware of any opponents or opposing arguments, please send an email with a link to editor@ballotpedia.org.
Campaign finance
If you are aware of any committees registered to support or oppose the measure, please send an email with a link to editor@ballotpedia.org.[3]
| Cash Contributions | In-Kind Contributions | Total Contributions | Cash Expenditures | Total Expenditures | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Support | $0.00 | $0.00 | $0.00 | $0.00 | $0.00 |
| Oppose | $0.00 | $0.00 | $0.00 | $0.00 | $0.00 |
| Total | $0.00 | $0.00 | $0.00 | $0.00 | $0.00 |
Background
New Jersey Public Question 4 (1984)
- See also: New Jersey Public Question No. 4 (1984)
Before 1984, no organizations could use proceeds from raffles or bingo games to fundraise for themselves. Voters approved a constitutional amendment, Question 4, to allow senior citizen associations and groups to keep money from raffles and bingo games. It received 85.8 percent of the vote.
New Jersey Public Question 1 (2013)
In 2013, voters approved Public Question 1, which allowed veterans’ organizations to use money collected from raffles and bingo games to support their organizations. At the time, only senior citizen groups were allowed to use raffle proceeds as funds. Public Question 1 received 81.3 percent of the vote.
Referred amendments on the ballot
From 1995 through 2020, the state legislature referred 35 constitutional amendments to the ballot. Voters approved 32 and rejected three of the referred amendments. The average number of amendments appearing on the ballot during an odd-numbered election year was around one. The approval rate at the ballot box was 91.4 percent during the 25-year period from 1995 through 2020. The rejection rate was 8.6 percent.
| Legislatively-referred constitutional amendments, 1995-2020 | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total number | Approved | Percent approved | Defeated | Percent defeated | Odd-year average | Odd-year median | Odd-year minimum | Odd-year maximum |
| 35 | 32 | 91.43% | 3 | 8.57% | 1.23 | 1.00 | 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. That amounts to a minimum of 48 votes in the New Jersey General Assembly and 24 votes in the New Jersey State Senate, assuming no vacancies.
Second, the legislature can refer an amendment through a simple majority vote (50%+1) in each legislative chamber during two successive legislative sessions. That amounts to a minimum of 41 votes in the New Jersey General Assembly and 21 votes in the New Jersey State Senate, assuming no vacancies.
Amendments do not require the governor's signature to be referred to the ballot.
Amendment in the state Legislature
The ballot measure was introduced into the New Jersey State Legislature as Senate Concurrent Resolution 91 (SCR 91) on March 5, 2020. The New Jersey Senate voted 38-0 to approve SCR 91 on June 3, 2021. The New Jersey General Assembly voted 71-0 to approve SCR 91 on June 21, 2021. Since SCR 91 received more than 60 percent of the vote in each chamber of the legislature, the proposal was referred to the ballot for November 2, 2021.[1]
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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.
| How to cast a vote in New Jersey | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Poll timesIn New Jersey, all polls are open from 6:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. Eastern Time. An individual who is in line at the time polls close must be allowed to vote.[4] Registration
To register to vote in New Jersey, each applicant must be a citizen of the United States and a resident of the county in which they are registering for at least 30 days prior to the election. Seventeen-year-olds may register to vote, although they may not vote until they have turned 18. Individuals serving a felony sentence or on probation or parole because of a felony may not register to vote.[5] The voter registration deadline is 21 days before the next election. Registration applications can be downloaded from the state website and mailed to the county commissioner of registration or superintendent of elections.[5] Registration applications are also available at various county offices and state agencies, such as the Division of Elections and Division of Motor Vehicle offices.[6] Automatic registrationNew Jersey enacted automatic voter registration in 2018.[7] Online registration
New Jersey has implemented an online voter registration system. Residents can register to vote by visiting this website. Same-day registrationNew Jersey does not allow same-day voter registration. Residency requirementsIn order to register to vote in New Jersey, applicants must be a resident of the county in which they are registering for at least 30 days prior to the election.[8] Verification of citizenshipNew Jersey does not require proof of citizenship for voter registration. An individual must attest that they are a U.S. citizen when registering to vote. According to the state's voter registration application, a false or fraudulent registration may result in a "fine of up to $15,000, imprisonment up to 5 years, or both pursuant to R.S. 19:34-1."[9] All 49 states with voter registration systems require applicants to declare that they are U.S. citizens in order to register to vote in state and federal elections, under penalty of perjury or other punishment.[10] Seven states — Alabama, Arizona, Georgia, Kansas, Louisiana, New Hampshire, and Wyoming — have laws requiring verification of citizenship at the time of voter registration, whether in effect or not. In three states — California, Maryland, and Vermont — at least one local jurisdiction allows noncitizens to vote in some local elections. Noncitizens registering to vote in those elections must complete a voter registration application provided by the local jurisdiction and are not eligible to register as state or federal voters. Verifying your registrationThe New Jersey Secretary of State’s Office allows residents to check their voter registration status online by visiting this website. Voter ID requirementsNew Jersey does not require voters to present identification while voting, in most cases. However, if a voter does not provide valid identification at the time of registration, he or she must show identification at the polling place.[11] Voters can present the following forms of identification:
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See also
Footnotes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 New Jersey State Legislature, "Senate Concurrent Resolution 91," accessed June 4, 2021
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 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 - ↑ New Jersey Election Law Enforcement, "Committees," accessed June 22, 2021
- ↑ New Jersey Department of State, “Election laws - NJSA - 19:15-2,” accessed August 22, 2024
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 New Jersey Division of Elections, “Register to Vote!” accessed August 22, 2024
- ↑ New Jersey Division of Elections, “Where to Register in Person,” accessed August 22, 2024
- ↑ New Jersey Legislature, “Assembly Committee Substitute for Assembly, No. 2014,” April 13, 2018
- ↑ New Jersey Department of State, "Voter registration FAQ," accessed August 22, 2024
- ↑ New Jersey Voter Information Portal, "New Jersey Voter Registration Application," accessed November 1, 2024
- ↑ 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."
- ↑ New Jersey Department of State, "Frequently Asked Questions," accessed August 22, 2024
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