Thousands of NJ Voters Received Mail-in-Ballots with Errors

If the Address on a New Jersey Mail-in-Ballot doesn't Match the Address the State has on Record, it won't be Counted.

More than 43,000 Vote-by-Mail Ballots were sent out, and the Middlesex County Clerk’s Office estimated that “a Large Percentage of them” contained Erroneous Voter Address information, though they were not able to give an Exact Number of affected Ballots.

The Clerk’s Office said the Problem, which came to light after Ballots were sent to Voters last weekend, was due to an Error “during preparation at the mail house.” All of the Ballots that have problematic Addresses because of the Error will still be COUNTED.

“Yes, the ballots are valid, and voters should use the materials they received,” said Cassandra Achille, the Supervisor of Elections in the Middlesex County Clerk’s Office. “All Vote By Mail ballots received by the Board of Elections will be counted.”

The Error comes at a time when some States are Purging Voter Rolls for the slightest Errors in their Registration, and others are enacting Stricter Voter Identification Laws at the Polls. At the same time, Mistrust in Voting Systems has grown around Disinformation Campaigns during the 2016 Election.

Amid this Distrust, New Jersey Residents grew worried that their Ballots would be Discarded. The Clerk’s Office will be sending out a Letter to All Voters hoping to assuage concerns. “A letter is being sent to all voters who may have been impacted by the error, explaining the error and notifying them that the ballot materials are valid and should be used,” Ms. Achille said.

New Jersey recently expanded its Vote-by-Mail Law under Gov. Philip D. Murphy (D). The New Law, Signed in August, Automatically Mailed Ballots for the 2018 Election to Residents who had Voted by Mail in the 2016 Election, regardless of whether they Requested a Ballot or Not. The Timing of the Law required Quick Implementation by the State’s 21 County Clerks, causing many to Work Overtime to get the Vote-by-Mail Ballots out in Time.










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