Assembly panel advances bill to protect voting rights in New Jersey • New Jersey Monitor

Assembly panel advances bill to protect voting rights in New Jersey • New Jersey Monitor

Assemblyman Reginald Atkins (D-Union) said the bill sent a message: "Here, we expand Democracy. We don't shrink it." (Dana DiFilippo | New Jersey Monitor)An Assembly committee approved a bill that would create a state counterpart to the federal Voting Rights Act in what supporters said was a bid to protect New Jersey’s democracy from growing federal assaults. The measure would create a new independent office, housed in Treasury, to oversee elect…