Issue-Plagued Voting Machines Under Internal Review In Burlington Co.

BURLINGTON COUNTY, NJ — Burlington County's new voting machines will be internally reviewed after technical issues caused long wait times on Election Day.

The county introduced new machines this year. Tuesday was the first time they were used in all of the county's polling places.

Issues with the machinery, such as disconnections and failures to start up, increased wait times at some of the county's polling locations. Several had lines out the door.

Burlington County's election offices will review the new machines and voting procedures, while also determining whether enough machines were deployed.

The county's Democratic and Republican party chairs both called for an internal analysis of the Election Day issues, which the county commissioners echoed.

"Voters deserve answers," the commissioners said in a joint statement, "and the Burlington County Commissioners support the bipartisan call by the chairs of both major political parties for a top-to-bottom review of election procedures to identify the causes of the excessive wait times and improvements to ensure that the situation is not repeated."

Every vote will be counted, the commissioners said.

Burlington County replaced its old fleet of switch-based machines, which became increasingly likely to malfunction or fail with no way to repair or replace them, according to the commissioners.

The new machines feature electronic ballot-marking devices. Burlington County had used them on a limited basis since 2021 early voting. But Tuesday was the first General Election in which they were used at all of the county's voting locations.

Polls stayed open past New Jersey's 8 p.m. cutoff on Tuesday following action from the state attorney general that prompted a court order.

The county had 560 ballot-marking devices at its polling locations on Election Day — 40 more than in 2016, the last presidential election primarily conducted through in-person voting.

"The number of machines deployed at each polling locations was based on recommendations from the County’s voting machine vendor and input from the bipartisan Board of Elections and municipal clerks," the county commissioners said. "If additional machines or other changes are needed to ensure smoother elections, the County is committed to making those improvements."

Burlington County exceeded its overall voter turnout in 2016, but fewer residents cast votes through machines on Election Day. Mail-in voting in New Jersey wasn't widespread until 2020, and early voting wasn't available until the year after.

There were 121,914 ballots cast Tuesday at Burlington County's polling locations, out of 235,343 overall votes. The tally remains unofficial, and some mail-in ballots are still being received.

In the 2016 General Election, 224,614 Burlington County residents cast votes, including 201,381 who voted in-person.