NJ Vote-By-Mail Concerns? Patch Asked A County Clerk For Answers

NEW JERSEY - The decision to make New Jersey's general election primarily vote-by-mail has prompted lawsuits, backlash and a slew of misinformation on the process. So Patch decided to get some information from Warren County Clerk Holly Mackey.

As background, Murphy made the decision every voter will be mailed a ballot weeks ahead of the Nov. 3 election. The step is being taken as New Jersey continues to deal with the effects of the coronavirus.

But voters who want to vote in-person will be allowed to as every municipality will have one polling location open and a minimum of 50 percent will be open per county. Gov. Phil Murphy said he's pushing to have at least 10 drop boxes per county.

Despite this, social media and even public officials have been expressing their ire and their concerns about the process.

“There’s no reason why voters can shop in a supermarket or wait hours on a line at a Murphy-led Motor Vehicle agency, and not be able to also spend a few minutes to cast their vote safely and securely on a machine, in-person, on Election Day," Bucco said.

For his part, Murphy has qualified that waiting outdoors as opposed to indoors and ensuring safe voting was a reason why his decision was made and has givenno sign he will back off his position. But that did not stop President Donald Trump's re-election campaign from filing a lawsuit, nor did it stop a wildfire spread of incorrect social media posts about the process.

We asked Mackey to give us clarity on some claims we've seen.

Do you send ballots to dead people and people who moved?

If we have to send to all Active Registered Voters then we will send to anyone who is in the Statewide Voter Registration System (SVRS) database. If voters do not tell us they moved then yes they will get a ballot sent to the address on record. Election mail does not forward, however, so I will get those ballots back to me in my office with a yellow tag indicating (usually) what happened. We use those yellow tags after each election to try and clean up the database. As far a deceased we try our best to keep that updated but like any database it is only as good at the inputs that are given.

What should someone do if they receive a ballot not addressed for them?

They should write on the outside of the ballot “deceased” or “moved” and get it back to us (unopened) via mail, in person or in a drop box. We can then use it to update the database

How are the votes verified to prevent duplicate voting?

Every returned ballot outer envelope has a barcode on it with the voter’s id from the SVRS. When the ballot package comes in, it is manually scanned into the SVRS. At that point the system sees that a ballot has been received. If a second ballot package for the same voter comes in and is scanned, the system gives the warning message and does not allow the scanner to continue. The second received ballot package is immediately rejected.

Does every vote get checked and counted individually?

Checked and signature verified yes. Counted no. We have an optical scanner we run the ballots through for tabulation. There are formal post-election audits (as well as prior-to post election audits by myself and the election board – especially when there is a close race) to verify the accuracy of the tabulation equipment. We continuously monitor and track the number of ballots in to the number of ballots counted to confirm accuracy of totals.

Do you have more questions you'd like answered? Concerned your party is labeled on the ballot (it isn't in the general election) or want to hear how your specific county is handling the VBM process? Contact your county clerk:

ATLANTIC COUNTY CLERK

Edward P. McGettigan
Clerk=s Building, 5901 Main Street
Mays Landing, NJ 08330
609) 625-4011; FAX (609) 625-4738
www.atlanticcountyclerk.org

BERGEN COUNTY CLERK

John S. Hogan
1 Bergen County Plaza
Hackensack, NJ 07601-7000
201) 336-7000; FAX (201) 336-7002
Website

BURLINGTON COUNTY CLERK

Joanne Schwartz
Court Complex, 1st Floor
49 Rancocas Road
Mt. Holly, NJ 08060
609) 265-5122; FAX (609) 265-0696
www.co.burlington.nj.us

CAMDEN COUNTY CLERK

Joseph Ripa
Courthouse, Room 102
520 Market Street
Camden, NJ 08102-1375
(856) 225-5300; FAX (856) 225-5316
Website

CAPE MAY COUNTY CLERK

Rita Marie Fulginiti
7 N. Main Street, PO Box 5000
Cape May Court House, NJ 08210
(609) 465-1010; FAX (609) 465-8625
www.capemaycountygov.net

CUMBERLAND COUNTY CLERK

Celeste M. Riley
60 W. Broad Street
Bridgeton, NJ 08302
(856) 453-4860; FAX (856) 455-1410
https://ccclerknj.com/

ESSEX COUNTY CLERK

Christopher J. Durkin
247 Hall of Records
465 Dr Martin Luther King Jr Blvd
Newark, NJ 07102
973) 621-4921; FAX (973) 621-2537
www.essexclerk.com

GLOUCESTER COUNTY CLERK

James "Jim" Hogan
1st Floor Courthouse
1 N. Broad Street, P.O. Box 129
Woodbury, NJ 08096-0129
(856) 853-3237; FAX (856) 853-3327
www.co.gloucester.nj.us

HUDSON COUNTY CLERK

E. Junior Maldonado
257 Cornelison Ave - 4th Floor
Jersey City, NJ 07302
(201) 369-3470; FAX (201) 369-3478
www.hudsoncountyclerk.com

HUNTERDON COUNTY CLERK

Mary H. Melfi
Hall of Records
71 Main Street
Flemington, NJ 08822
(908) 788-1214; FAX (908) 782-4068
Website

MERCER COUNTY CLERK

Paula Sollami-Covello
P.O. Box 8068
Trenton, NJ 08650-0068
(609) 989-6998; FAX (609) 989-1111
Website

MIDDLESEX COUNTY CLERK

Elaine Flynn
75 Bayard St., 4th Floor
P.O. Box 1110
New Brunswick, NJ 08903-1110
(732) 745-3827; FAX (732) 745-3642
www.co.middlesex.nj.us

MONMOUTH COUNTY CLERK

Christine Giordano Hanlon
Market Yard, PO Box 1251
Freehold, NJ 07728-1251
(732) 431-7324; FAX (732) 409-7566
Website

MORRIS COUNTY CLERK

Ann F. Grossi
P.O. Box 315
Morristown, NJ 07963-0315
(973) 285-6120; FAX (973) 285-5233
https://morriscountyclerk.org/

OCEAN COUNTY CLERK

Scott M. Colabella
112 Courthouse
118 Washington Street
P.O. Box 2191
Toms River, NJ 08754
(732) 929-2018; FAX (732) 349-4338
www.oceancountyclerk.com

PASSAIC COUNTY CLERK

Danielle Ireland-Imhof
401 Grand Street Room 130
Paterson, NJ 07505
(973) 225-3690; FAX (973) 754-1920
www.passaiccountynj.org

SALEM COUNTY CLERK

Gilda T. Gill
110 Fifth St Suite 200
P.O. Box 18
Salem, NJ 08079-9856
(856) 935-7510 x 8605
FAX (856) 935-8882
https://salemcountyclerk.org/

SOMERSET COUNTY CLERK

Steve Peter
20 Grove Street
P.O. Box 3000
Somerville, NJ 08876-1262
(908) 231-7013; FAX (908) 575-3930
www.co.somerset.nj.us

SUSSEX COUNTY CLERK

Jeffrey M. Parrott
Hall of Records
Cochran House Building
83 Spring St. Suite 304
Newton, NJ 07860-1795
(973) 579-0900; FAX (973) 383-7493
www.sussexcountyclerk.com

UNION COUNTY CLERK

Joanne Rajoppi
2 Broad Street
P.O. Box 6099
Elizabeth, NJ 07207-6099
(908) 527-4787; FAX (908) 558-2589
http://ucnj.org/county-clerk/

WARREN COUNTY CLERK

Holly Mackey
413 2nd Street
Belvidere, NJ 07823
(908) 475-6211; FAX (908) 475-6208
Website

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