Voting Machine Software Errors In 4 Monmouth Towns; AG Investigating

BELMAR, NJ — Last week, it made national headlines when it was revealed that the election software used by Monmouth County incorrectly double counted some votes in the Nov. 2022 Ocean Twp. school board race.

Now, the Monmouth County Superintendent of Elections said that same software may have incorrectly counted votes in at least three additional towns: Tinton Falls, Belmar and Fair Haven, plus Ocean Township.

Also on Tuesday, New Jersey Attorney General Matt Platkin said he is launching a full investigation into what happened.

The Attorney General also filed a legal complaint Friday in Monmouth County Superior Court, requesting a recount in the 2022 elections in all four of those towns.

“Based on public reports regarding the 2022 general election in Monmouth County, a full investigation is warranted to preserve public trust in our elections," said Platkin on Tuesday.

Attorney General Platkin said he is requesting the recount and investigation after numerous media reports of vote count mistakes made by Election Systems Software, the third-party vendor hired by Monmouth County to operate their voting machine software countywide.

Last week, a spokeswoman for Election Systems Software, Katina Granger, told CNN the Ocean Twp. school board race was the only race affected — even though Election Systems Software is used by Monmouth County county-wide.

But two days later, it came to light that vote counts in four towns — Ocean Twp., Belmar, Tinton Falls and Fair Haven — were all possibly incorrectly counted, the Monmouth County Superintendent of Elections and Board of Elections said in a joint statement released Friday.

“It appears to have been a technical problem with Election Systems Software's election software system, which has been identified and is in the process of being rectified," read the statement. "ES&S is one of a limited number of election system vendors certified by the state. As a result of the problem, there were inaccurate vote tallies in six of Monmouth County’s 466 districts, in Belmar, Fair Haven, Ocean Township and Tinton Falls. The outcome of one election could change as a result, the Board of Education election in Ocean Township, which was very close."

"ES&S has accepted responsibility for the software issue. During the company’s reinstallation of the software for Monmouth County in July 2022, ES&S admittedly excluded a step that allowed some votes to be counted twice."

“A technician inadvertently loaded votes twice in error," Granger told CNN last Wednesday. “Typically our software blocks this from happening. Unfortunately, a human error in a July software reinstallment missed the step that would have flagged the mistake.”

Monmouth County Commissioner Tom Arnone said he is "calling for a meeting with Election Systems & Software to talk about how and why this happened, so that Monmouth County can be sure the issues are fixed. Please know Monmouth County is leaving no stone unturned to fully get to the bottom of this and to make sure it never happens again.”

The Attorney General’s Office has retained the law firm Patterson, Belknap, Webb, and Tyler LLP to conduct the investigation. The firm has agreed to be retained on a pro bono basis.

A Monmouth County Superior Court judge has not issued a date for when the recount will take place.

Monmouth County Superintendent of Elections Chris Siciliano and the Board of Elections said Tuesday they "welcome" the Attorney General's investigation.

“Monmouth County election offices welcome and support any investigation by the New Jersey Attorney General into Election System's Software’s election software issue," they said. "We have already been working with the Attorney General’s Office on this problem. Monmouth County election offices have also called on the state of New Jersey to require recertification of election systems — including election machines and software — both annually and whenever there is a modification to the election software. Monmouth County election offices also ask the state to create a new state-mandated test and checklist to perform before elections to ensure the election software works properly. Again, our top priority is ensuring the integrity of the voting process for the residents of Monmouth County.”

Initial Patch report: Voting Machine Software Error Made In Ocean Twp. School Board Race (Jan. 18)