Legislation: batch C — MO MS MT NC ND NE NH NJ NM NV

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.8 <noreply@anthropic.com>

legislation/us/states/nj/221/a-4969.md

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+---
+type: "Bill"
+title: "Ensures boards of elections have discretion to make initial determination of validity of cast ballots; requires Secretary of State to establish uniform guidelines for assessing validity of ballots.*"
+description: "Ensures boards of elections have discretion to make initial determination of validity of cast ballots; requires Secretary of State to establish uniform guidelines for assessing validity of ballots.*"
+jurisdiction: "us/states/nj"
+legislature: "New Jersey Legislature"
+session: "221"
+identifier: "A 4969"
+citation: "New Jersey A 4969 (221)"
+classification: ["bill"]
+subjects: ["ELECTIONS"]
+status: "enacted"
+primary_sponsors: ["Coughlin, Craig J.", "Donlon, Margie", "Gopal, Vin", "Peterpaul, Luanne M.", "Turner, Shirley K."]
+version_count: 2
+action_count: 8
+vote_count: 3
+first_action: "2024-10-21T04:00:00+00:00"
+last_action: "2025-10-01T04:00:00+00:00"
+source: "openstates"
+source_identifier: "ocd-bill/cbb54b83-de47-494a-8917-7710bfaf334c"
+source_url: "https://pub.njleg.state.nj.us/leg-databases/"
+source_hash: "a3679782e83d7d9396b9cb9807a7c7e3bcb2588aa9abb1ccd833545a84ca3ae7"
+vintage: "2026-07-01"
+source_snapshot: "https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump"
+retrieved_at: "2026-07-06"
+confidence: "reported"
+tags: ["legislation", "bill", "us-nj"]
+---
+
+# New Jersey A 4969 (221) — Ensures boards of elections have discretion to make initial determination of validity of cast ballots; requires Secretary of State to establish uniform guidelines for assessing validity of ballots.*
+
+## Version chain
+
+The bill's text revisions, in order — the diff chain from filing to enrollment.
+
+1. **Introduced Version** (committee substitute) — [source](https://pub.njleg.state.nj.us/Bills/2024/A5000/4969_I1.HTM)
+2. **Reprint Assembly 12/19/24 1R** (committee substitute) — [source](https://pub.njleg.state.nj.us/Bills/2024/A5000/4969_R1.HTM)
+
+## Votes
+
+- Reported favorably out of committee — **7–0** (pass) · lower
+- 3RDG FINAL PASSAGE — **37–0** (pass) · upper
+- 3RDG FINAL PASSAGE — **76–2** (pass) · lower
+
+## Sponsors
+
+- Coughlin, Craig J. — primary (person)
+- Donlon, Margie — primary (person)
+- Gopal, Vin — primary (person)
+- Peterpaul, Luanne M. — primary (person)
+- Turner, Shirley K. — primary (person)
+- Carter, Linda S. — cosponsor (person)
+- Drulis, Mitchelle — cosponsor (person)
+- Freiman, Roy — cosponsor (person)
+- Greenstein, Linda R. — cosponsor (person)
+- Reynolds-Jackson, Verlina — cosponsor (person)
+- Scharfenberger, Gerry — cosponsor (person)
+
+## Timeline
+
+The legislative action history — every referral, reading, and vote.
+
+- **2024-10-21T04:00:00+00:00** Introduced in the Assembly, Referred to Assembly State and Local Government Committee `introduction, referral-committee`
+- **2024-12-12T05:00:00+00:00** Reported out of Assembly Committee, 2nd Reading `committee-passage`
+- **2024-12-19T05:00:00+00:00** Assembly Floor Amendment Passed (Wimberly) `amendment-passage`
+- **2025-05-22T04:00:00+00:00** Passed Assembly (76-2-0) `passage`
+- **2025-05-29T04:00:00+00:00** Received in the Senate without Reference, 2nd Reading
+- **2025-06-30T04:00:00+00:00** Substituted for S3816 (1R)
+- **2025-06-30T04:00:00+00:00** Passed Senate (Passed Both Houses) (37-0) `passage`
+- **2025-10-01T04:00:00+00:00** Approved P.L.2025, c.150. `executive-signature`
+
+## Source
+
+OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/cbb54b83-de47-494a-8917-7710bfaf334c`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official New Jersey legislature records).
+