Blame Game Begins Following 'Voting Disaster' In Morris County

MORRIS COUNTY, NJ — For many, Election Day went as smoothly as possible, as thousands of residents lined up at polling places throughout Morris County to cast ballots, and election workers showed up to assist their neighbors.

However, some Morris County towns experienced significant delays on Election Day as a result of new machines that were deployed to local precincts.

According to officials, this issue was exacerbated by a shortage of supplies.

Recently, the Morris County Democratic Committee discussed the delays and accused Morris County Clerk Ann Grossi of ordering the wrong size paper for the new machines—a claim that Grossi disputes.

"The paper order in question was ordered by the printer for the new ES&S XL voting machines (“XL voting machine) was not the wrong size. The 17-inch ballot cards were ordered directly from ES&S, the manufacturer of the new XL voting machines. These ballots can only be ordered from ES&S and they offer several sizes specifically to be used with the XL voting machine. The 17-inch ballot cards are one of the available options and the size does not affect the efficiency. To say that the County Clerk purchased the wrong size ballot cards is patently false," Grossi said.

The Chester Township Mayor, Marcia Asdal, previously stated that there were record-long lines all day yesterday at town hall to vote for districts two and three.

Read related: 'Voting Disaster' As Voters Faced Delays At The Polls In Morris Co.

The Morris County Democratic Committee also claimed that there were discrepancies in Mendham Township with voters placed in the wrong district by Clerk Grossi.

"We know of residents in Mendham Township who had to return to the polls after not being able to cast a ballot because they were placed in the wrong congressional district. In Chester there were long waiting times. It’s appalling that with so much time to prepare for an election, such basic, fundamental mistakes were made by County Clerk Ann Grossi," Morris County Chairwoman Amalia Duarte said.

Grossi responded that the problem in Mendham Township with voters being placed in the wrong congressional district was caused by the programming of the electronic poll book. The Board of Elections and/or their designee are solely responsible for poll book maintenance and programming.

"There were no fundamental mistakes made by the County Clerk concerning the length of time voters had to wait to cast their vote in Mendham Township. There simply were not enough XL voting machines to handle the number of voters," Grossi said.

The counties' previous voting machines were recently upgraded after the Morris County Commissioner Board authorized the purchase of new voting machines for $4.9 million in late 2021.

Municipalities in Morris County reported receiving half the number of machines they would have received otherwise this year.Chester Township received only one machine for each of its five voting districts, rather than the usual two, according to Asdal.

"The County Clerk had absolutely nothing to do with the purchase of the XL voting machines, including the number of machines purchased. The XL voting machines were purchased by the County and these voting machines were the voting machines that the Board of Elections wanted," Grossi said.

The Morris County Board of Elections has yet to respond to Patch's inquiries about machine shortages and other reported issues.

"It’s appalling and sadly undermines the faith voters have in elections. Voting should be easy and straightforward. We need an investigation into these problems to find answers and ensure it never happens again," Duarte said.