ICYMI: Star-Ledger Editorial Board Condemns Trump “Acolyte” Jack Ciattarelli For Embracing GOP Assault on Voting Rights

“The fact that this acolyte could be our next governor cannot be dismissed casually.”

This morning, the Star-Ledger editorial board went after GOP gubernatorial candidate Jack Ciattarelli for his embrace of national Republicans’ attack on voting rights.

So far, thirty-three states have introduced 165 bills to roll back voting access, New Jersey included – Republicans in the state legislature have filed eight bills related to “voting rights” since the 2020 election.

Like Republicans across the country, Ciattarelli has endorsed these restrictive voting laws in an effort to demonstrate his loyalty to Trump. Ciattarelli has been desperately trying to woo Trump’s base in New Jersey –  embracing his wild claims of election fraud and headlining a “Stop the Steal” rally similar to the one leading up to the Capitol insurrection. So it’s no surprise Ciattarelli would support discriminatory, unconstitutional laws that only serve to suppress voter turnout and disenfranchise Black voters.

“Jack Ciatterelli refuses to answer questions about his attendance at the ‘Stop the Steal’ rally, but continues to promote the ‘Big Lie’ about the 2020 election,” said DGA Spokesperson Kayla Anderson. “Republicans have said the quiet part out loud: they fear they can’t win elections fairly, so they want to limit who gets to vote and how they get to do it. Ciattarelli knows these proposals aim to limit turnout, disenfranchise communities of color, and sow distrust in our election systems – that’s his goal. Ciattarelli will stop at nothing to further Trump’s dangerous agenda in New Jersey.”

Read more about Ciattarelli’s attack on voting rights below.

Star-Ledger Editorial Board: The GOP playbook for New Jersey: Attack voting rights 

There has been a recent avalanche of bills introduced by Republican state lawmakers across the US designed to make it harder to vote, triggered by a pretext that election fraud played a role in the national humiliation of Donald Trump.

So it is no surprise that a Trump supporter endorses two restrictive voting laws for our state, and the fact that this acolyte could be our next governor cannot be dismissed casually.

Jack Ciattarelli, the clubhouse favorite for the GOP nomination, is too genteel to be a Trump sock puppet, but he insists that “a great many people have lost faith in the voting system, and we have to restore that faith.”

He omits the part about how Trump and his legions are the sources of that lagging faith — including Ciattarelli himself, the featured speaker at a Stop The Steal rally in December.

So with accidental irony, the former Somerset Assemblyman proposes “reforms” on his campaign website that actually Stop the Turnout, just like the red states do it: He supports a photo ID requirement at the polls, including a state ID for those who don’t drive, plus an ID-certification requirement for mail-in voters; and he wants to purge voters from the election rolls if they haven’t voted in four consecutive years, and mandate that they contact a county clerk if they want to restore their most cherished civil right.

[…]

Ciattarelli’s proposals are a part of a larger effort among New Jersey Republicans, who have introduced or re-filed eight bills related to voting rights since the election, according to the Brennan Center.

One proposal suspends the Motor Voter Law, which would depress turnout. Another requires mail-in voters to reapply for ballots every year, which would depress turnout. Another mandates photo ID, which would depress turnout.

Spot the trend, win valuable prizes. And Jack Ciattarelli, sent down by the Party of Trump, is their champion.