County election officials in N.J. don’t have to wait until Election Day to start counting ballots because of a new law that allows the tallying to start 10 days early, on Saturday, Oct. 24.
But some county officials said they don’t need that much time and will start counting closer to Election Day.
More than six million ballots were issued to voters as of 1 p.m. Tuesday, according to the state Division of Elections. Of those, 1,879,959 ballots were received and entered into the statewide voter registration system as of Tuesday.
Election officials are allowed to receive mail-in ballots until 8 p.m. on Nov. 10. Some voters may opt to go to the polls on Election Day, but only disabled voters will be able to use a machine. All others will cast paper provisional ballots that look exactly like the mail-in ballots. Election officials will not be able to start to count the paper provisional ballots until Nov. 10 — the last day they can receive mail-in ballots — in order to ensure that all mail-in ballots are logged in so no voter casts two ballots.
They don’t have to report the results to the Secretary of State until Nov. 23.
While the counties all have the same deadlines, they operate independently and juggle varying population levels, so the timetables on vote processing and counting will vary.
UNION COUNTY
In Union County, the counting won’t start until Oct. 30.
The county has been logging each ballot into the state voter registration system, which is when it verifies the signatures on the certification flap, said Nicole DiRado, the administrator of the Union County Board of Elections.
On Oct. 24, it will begin prepping the verified ballots to be tallied, she said. That includes removing the perforated certification flap from the ballot envelope, opening the ballot and placing the ballot in a tray to wait for scanning.
“Opening and prepping ballots is the most time consuming and labor intensive part of the process,” DiRado said. “We will begin counting on Oct. 30.”
Depending on the day, the office has between 30 and 50 people working the ballots.
DiRado said she’s not worried about finishing the count on time. Instead, she’s concerned about how some voters feel about the mail-in ballot process.
“I feel that voter awareness is one of our biggest challenges. I encourage voters to be educated about the process.” she said. “Please, be safe and stay home to vote. I know at the end of the day we will have run a fair, transparent and successful election.”
SOMERSET COUNTY
In Somerset County, election officials put their early efforts into registering new voters, updating voter registrations and making sure every voter gets a ballot.
The clerk has mailed out more than 250,000 ballots — a record, the county said — compared to 150,000 votes that were cast in 2016. So far, it’s received more than 70,000 ballots back from voters, the county said.
It is now shifting its resources to input ballots into the state voter registration system “within an average of five to seven days of receipt.”
Some voters have expressed frustration that they’ve been unable to track their ballots, Somerset County Freeholder Director Shanel Robinson said in a statement.
That should change as the votes are logged into the system and signatures are verified.
The county didn’t say how many people were working on the ballots, but called it an “all-hands-on-deck effort” with employees from every county department helping out.
Election officials won’t start counting on Oct. 24, but “sometime in the 10-day window” before Election Day, said Nathan Rudy, a Somerset County spokesman.
CAPE MAY COUNTY
Cape May will start opening its ballots on Oct. 24 with 55 to 60 workers who will prepare ballots to be scanned in the days that follow.
“We are on track,” said Michael Kennedy, the registrar of the county’s board of elections, noting he has no concerns about being finished on time.
HUNTERDON COUNTY
Ballots won’t be counted until Election Day in Hunterdon County, said Beth Thompson, supervisor/administrator of the board of elections.
She said the county has no concerns about finishing on time.
On Saturday, election workers will start to prepare the ballots.
“Ballots will become anonymous by removing the certificate and then the ballot will be removed from the privacy envelope,” Thompson said. “The ballots will be placed in specialized trays with control sheets and continue to be locked until Nov. 3 when we will begin to run them through the scanning system.”
Per Gov. Phil Murphy’s executive order, they will work on Election Day until 11 p.m. and then start at 9 a.m. on Nov. 4, tallying mail-in ballots. After Nov. 10, once all the mail-ins are counted, they will start counting paper provisional ballots, Thompson said.
The county has an average of 26 workers who will do shift work in the 10 days before Nov. 3, and they will have 30 or more workers on Election Day, she said.
She said if voters receive mail from the county, they should open it — it could be a notification that the voter needs to cure their ballot.
“We just want voters to trust in the system,” Thompson said. “As long as they followed the provided instructions on filling out their ballot and signing their certificate envelope, their ballot will be counted.”
ATLANTIC COUNTY
Atlantic County won’t start counting on Oct. 24, either.
“No ballots will have been opened as of that day,” said Evelynn Caterson, chair of the board of elections. “We want to get a pile of ballots before we begin the actual scanning so that the scanner people are not just standing around waiting for us.”
As for when the count will be finished, Caterson said it depends because the county doesn’t know how many voters will bring their ballots to the polls.
“If only 100 voters do this at each Atlantic County polling place — there are 70 — that means that 7,000 ballots will not arrive at the Board for processing until late on Election night,” she said. “Another unknown is the number of provisional ballots which will need to be reviewed by the Superintendent of Elections. The Board cannot finish its work until it receives and reviews all the provisional ballots.”
She said the county has 66 people processing ballots — half Democrats, half Republicans,
“I think — given the unprecedented aspects of the election, Atlantic County is doing extremely well,” she said.
MERCER COUNTY
Mercer County said on Oct. 24, it will continue its daily routine of receiving ballots, logging them in the state voter registration system and comparing signatures.
Also on that day, the county will “start the process of removing the certifications for those ballots that have been received and signature-checked,” said Anthony Francioso, Mercer County Board of Elections Chair
“The inner envelope will then be processed through an envelope opening machine, this will slit open the inner envelope to allow the ballot to be removed,” he said. “The ballots to be removed will be organized and prepared for the scanning machine.”
He said the board is averaging 30 workers per day, and this will increase as we near Election Day.
Francioso asked voters to be patient with the ballot tracking system.
“The ballot drop boxes are picked up on a daily schedule. It takes about 48 hours to upload into the system,” he said.
CAMDEN COUNTY
Camden County will start its counting on Oct. 24.
The board of election’s 18 full-time employees are getting help from county workers from other departments, county director of public affairs Dan Keashen said. The state has offered additional help for the week before, the week of, and the week after the election, he said.
As of Monday, the county received 34% of total ballots mailed, or 122,000 out of 358,000.
“We are hoping that number continues to climb each day so we do not see a flood of provisional ballots being filled out on Election Day,” Keashen said, reminding voters that only disabled voters can use a machine and everyone else will complete a paper provisional ballot. “Provisional ballots take much longer to process and will not be processed until all other ballots are counted first.”
He’s encouraging voters to use one of the county’s 13 drop boxes, to drop ballots off at the election complex or to bring them to the polls to hand to a board worker on Election Day.
BERGEN COUNTY
Some 90 workers in Bergen County will start separating the signature flaps from the county’s ballots on Saturday.
“We will do this for a few days, then we’ll count,” said said Jamie Sheehan-Willis, chairwoman of the Bergen County Board of Elections. “Then we’ll separate more. Then we’ll count again.”
Out of more than 650,000 mailed ballots, a little more than 200,000 have been returned so far.
She said as the largest county in the state, there are some concerns about finishing on time.
“While we have plenty of workers, my concern is all the voters that wait until the last minute,” she said. “If everyone waits until Nov. 3, that only gives us 17 days to count all the remaining mail in ballots and all the provisional ballots.”
Because they can receive mail-in ballots until Nov. 10, it will probably take a couple of days to count the ones that come in the last few days, she said, and they can’t start counting the provisionals until the mail-ins are all counted. So if they can’t start counting the provisionals until Nov. 12 or later, that’s only about a week to count all the provisionals, she said.
“We have a retired nun working with us in Bergen,” she said. “I ask her every day if she prayed for us today.”
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Karin Price Mueller may be reached at KPriceMueller@NJAdvanceMedia.com.
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