Campaign filings would require contact details

Summary#

A-5681 would amend section 16 of P.L.1973, c.83, which covers campaign reporting to New Jersey’s Election Law Enforcement Commission (ELEC). Its stated goal is to require candidate contact information on certain forms filed with ELEC. The bill is introduced and is not law; passage is uncertain.

  • Forms required under section 16 would have to include the candidate’s name, phone number, and email address.
  • For a joint candidates committee, the forms would have to include the names, phone numbers, and email addresses of the joint candidates.
  • The bill sets an effective date of January 1 after enactment. It does not set a specific calendar date.

What it means for you#

  • Candidates and joint candidates: Forms filed with ELEC under section 16 would need to include your contact details. The bill does not say that you must personally file each form.
  • Campaign committees and treasurers: When filing a form covered by section 16, the required candidate contact details would have to be included.
  • The public: The bill does not itself set out a new public-access rule. Section 16 already calls for counties to link to ELEC’s site to provide public access to required reports. Whether every form covered by the new requirement is publicly available is unclear.
  • Other people filing with ELEC: The bill does not change contribution limits, reporting deadlines, or the information required from donors. It adds candidate contact details to forms covered by section 16.

Money#

No publicly available information.

  • The supplied material includes no cost estimate or fiscal note.
  • The bill does not specify new fees, spending, staffing, or a penalty for leaving out the information.

What is unclear#

  • The bill does not specify how candidates should provide or update their contact details, or what to do if a candidate has no phone number or email address.
  • It does not say what kinds of phone numbers or email addresses are acceptable, or whether the information must be verified.
  • It does not add a specific enforcement process or penalty for missing contact details.
  • No separate copy of the current law was supplied, so the existing rules could not be independently checked against the law in force.

Case for#

  • A possible argument for the bill is that including candidate contact details on filings could make it easier to reach candidates about those filings.
  • The bill uses forms already required under section 16, rather than creating a separate filing system.
  • The required information is limited to candidates’ names, phone numbers, and email addresses.

Case against#

  • The bill does not distinguish between personal and campaign contact details. Requiring personal contact information could raise privacy concerns.
  • It does not explain how the information would be protected or which forms would be publicly accessible.
  • The bill adds a filing requirement without saying how errors or missing information would be handled.