Voter Registration Drive Starts for NJ Ex-cons on Parole

The League of Women Voters and the New Jersey Reentry Corp. will jointly undertake a campaign to register all former New Jersey prisoners after they complete their sentences.

The registration drive follows Gov. Phil Murphy signing a new law in December allowing people on parole and probation to vote. The law will take effect on March 17.

"The right to vote was first denied to those who have committed a criminal conviction as part of the [state] constitution in 1844. Before then, there was no restriction for people who had committed a crime," said Evelyn Murphy, the League's first vice president and voters service director.

The League of Women Voters is celebrating its centennial of "helping to educate people about voting and registering people to vote, helping them to be able to exercise their right to vote," Murphy said.

The New Jersey Reentry Corp. is headed by former Gov. Jim McGreevey.

Both organizations plan to reach out to the 80,000 people to whom the law extended the right to vote.