All Essex County Voters Will be Able to Vote in Their Hometowns, Clerk Says

A few county residents might not be able to vote in their normal polling place Tuesday, but they will be able to vote, Essex County Clerk Chris Durkin assured the public at a press conference in Newark Friday.

“Election Day is happening,” Durkin said.

Hurricane Sandy has left some of the county’s 306 polling places without power, but Durkin said “the majority have power and more and more are coming on line hour by hour.”

The clerk’s office is communicating with officials in each of the county’s 22 municipalities to get information on the state of individual polling places, including learning whether they have electricity.

Durkin said voting locations will be consolidated if necessary. Voters who plan to vote in person should report to their assigned polling place on Tuesday. If the location has been changed, they will be directed to an alternate location very close by.

"We will be displacing voters as little as possible," Durkin said.

Durkin also said no one wishing to vote in person will have to leave their town in order to vote. Newark residents will be able to vote within their wards, Durkin also said.

Voters are also being reminded that they can vote early, by mail, and can even go directly to the clerk’s office, 465 Martin Luther King Boulevard in Newark, to pick up a mail-in ballot application. The clerk’s office will be open from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Saturday, Sunday and Monday.

"We will be working right up to Election Day to accomodate as many voters as possible," Durkin said.

Newark Mayor Cory Booker, who was also at the press conference, urged anyone driving in the city to exercise caution as many traffic signals there are still without power. Motorists are reminded that by law, you must come to a stop at an intersection without power first before proceeding through.

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