Belmar Mayoral Candidate Challenges Mail-in Ballot Validity of 90-Year-Old WWII Veteran

The validity of a mail-in ballot for a 90-year-old World War II veteran has been challenged, along with 145 other mail-in ballots for Tuesday’s election, by Belmar Republican mayoral candidate Jim Bean, according to the Asbury Park Press.

Bean has requested the Board of Elections to verify voters’ eligibility in Belmar, specifically singling Samuel D. Kaye, a war veteran who has been temporarily living in Ocean Township while waiting for repairs to be finished on his Sandy-flooded home. Kaye was able to vote in a special election held on August 19, when residents were asked to vote on a plan for the town to borrow $7 million in additional funds to rebuild two boardwalk pavilions that had been destroyed by Sandy, but now Bean is challenging Kaye’s eligibility.

The councilman, who is running against the current Democratic mayor Matt Doherty, is questioning not only Kaye’s residential eligibility, but also makes claims that “multiple handwriting” was used, implying that someone else had filled out Kaye’s form. More than 140 other mail-in ballots have been challenged to the Board of Elections by Councilman Bean.

Under state law, registered voters are entitled to vote by mail instead of going to their designated local polling place, under state law, for any reason.

To read more, go to: www.app.com/story/news/local/neptune-wall/belmar/2014/11/01/belmar-republicans-challenge-ballots/18358221/

What do you think? Do you believe that the councilman is out of line in his questioning of the veteran, who is displaced from Superstorm Sandy? Let us know in the comments section below.

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