Burlington Co. Works To Avoid Repeat Of Election Day Disarray: Here's How

BURLINGTON COUNTY, NJ — While voters may still get bad flashbacks about the last election day in Burlington County, officials have taken some actions to ensure a smoother process for casting your ballot during the primaries.

Hours-long wait times plagued polling places throughout the county in November — the first General Election in which Burlington County used its new fleet of voting machines at all locations.

New Jersey's Primary Election Day is June 10. While lower turnout than the presidential election is expected, county election officials are implementing some changes to help prevent a repeat of November's mishaps.

Some of those adjustments were recommended by law firm Connell Foley LLP — the county's independent special counsel that is investigating what changes should be made.

Much like last year, the county's Superintendent of Elections Office is offering hands-on tutorials for the new voting machines, which mark ballots electronically. (Find more info below.)

Here's what to know about the county's preparations ahead of the Primary Election.

What Went Wrong

With the older voting machines becoming obsolete and essentially impossible to repair, the county purchased new machines several years ago. Since 2021, the county has deployed them for early voting. But last year marked the first time that the county used them in a general election.

Many voters were in line for hours as they waited for IT professionals to fix machine glitches. The county's polling locations stayed open several hours later than the state deadline because of a court order.

Those who stayed in line were able to cast their votes. But not everyone was able to wait around — especially people heading to work, parents with children to feed, and elderly and disabled voters who had no place to sit at some locations.

Last month, Connell Foley released its preliminary report on what went wrong for the county on November's Election Day and solutions the law firm recommends.

While the voting machine glitches played a factor, some of the issues can be remedied by choosing more accessible polling locations, rebalancing the county's elections districts for more even population distribution, deploying more technical workers to fix issues, and better training poll workers, the report says.

Connell Foley also highlighted a strain among county election officials "appearing to stem from partisan tension, personality conflicts, or both."

"A culture of territorialism in the County election offices prevented the communication, collaboration, and coordination necessary to prepare for the November 2024 election," the report says. "Interviewees (for the investigation) uniformly reported or strongly implied that interoffice, and sometimes intraoffice, constructive criticism is largely met with defensiveness or even personal attacks."

Connell Foley says its final report will delve into how much this work environment affected the Election Day issues.

Solutions In Place

But some of the problems have quicker fixes, and county election officials have already put some of Connell Foley's recommendations into action.

For instance, the county is now paying poll workers for training, provided they work on Election Day. Connell Foley suggested the change to promote greater buy-in from poll workers and show the seriousness of their duties.

The county also added two more locations for in-person, early voting, bringing the total to nine.

Additionally, the Superintendent of Elections Office will deploy more IT professionals to trouble-shoot any technical issues that arise, said David Levinsky, a spokesperson for the county government.

The county is still finalizing its Primary Day polling places and the number of voting machines at each location, Levinsky told Patch on Monday.

"That said, we previously announced that the County acquired additional election equipment and that the Superintendent of Elections Office planned to increase the number of ballot marking devices distributed to many polling locations," Levinsky said via email.

Some of the polling locations are changing after Connell Foley noted that the county is long overdue for Election Day redistricting.

Essentially, county election officials are responsible for ensuring that no polling place is serving too many or too few voters. The county last redistricted in 2018, and population shifts have overburdened some voting locations.

Connell Foley also advised officials to ensure that all polling locations will have temporary ADA accommodations where they're needed on Election Day.

How To Learn More

The county released a video last year on how to use the voting machines, which can be viewed below:

County Superintendent of Elections staff are also holding hands-on trainings twice a week before June 10's elections. For machine tutorials, residents can visit the County Corner Store (1020 Briggs Rd., Mount Laurel) between 4 p.m. and 7 p.m. on Wednesdays and between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. on Saturdays.

Staff will also be available to answer questions and assist with other election-related matters. Find more info here.

Like last year, the elections office expects to hold additional tutorial sessions and informational events at different locations during the current election cycle.

Here are some more election resources:

• The voter-registration deadline is Tuesday, May 20. Click here to check if you're registered to vote or fill out a registration form.
• Find your polling place.
• Track your ballot.
• View your sample ballot.
• See the county's webpage with information on voting by mail.
• See the county's early voting locations. Early voting runs from June 3-8 — 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday through Saturday and 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Sunday.
• Find a secure ballot drop box, where you can deliver your completed mail-in ballot until polls close at 8 p.m. on Election Day.
• Visit Burlington County's Election and Voter Services webpage.
• Find answers to frequently asked questions about voting in New Jersey.