Clerk Fulginiti explains there will be no voting machines on Nov. 3
By JACK FICHTER/Sentinel staff
CAPE MAY COURT HOUSE — Voting machines will not be found at polling places Nov. 3, but every active voter in the county will receive a vote-by-mail ballot as ordered by Gov. Phi Murphy.
Voters may mail their ballot, place it in a box at a polling location on Election Day or in a drop box at a number of locations, but will not have the option of using a voting machine.
County Clerk Rita Fulginiti will send every active voter a vote-by-mail ballot to the mailing address on file with the County Clerk’s Office. Voters are encouraged to fill out their ballot and return it to the county Board of Elections as soon a possible. Ballots will be in the mail by Oct. 5.
Four options are available for delivering a ballot to the Board of Elections.
— A voter or designated bearer may return the ballot into any secure official vote-by-mail drop box location throughout the county.
— A voter or designated bearer may place the ballot in any post office receptacle. The return envelope is postage-paid.
— A voter or designated bearer may personally deliver the ballot to the county Board of Elections. All ballots delivered to the Board of Elections must be signed in with valid identification such as a driver’s license, federal, state or local ID.
— A voter may personally deliver the ballot to their designated polling place on Election Day. No bearer may deliver a voter’s ballot to the polling place. Polling places are designated by election district. Voters will see their election district on the ballot return envelope. Before Election Day, a post card will be mailed to the voter listing his/her polling location.
State law allows a bearer to mail or deliver a ballot for a voter. That bearer must first sign and print his/her name and address in the box at the bottom left of the return envelope in the voter’s presence before taking it. The bearer delivering the ballot may not be a candidate nor may a bearer deliver more than three ballots. At the polling place, poll workers will be able to receive a ballot only from the voter.
Polling places will be open from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m. Nov. 3, when paper provisional ballots will be available.
Those who have a disability and need an accessible vote-by-mail ballot should call (609) 465-1013 or visit their assigned polling place, which will provide access to an in-person voting device on Election Day.
Ballots returned by mail must be postmarked no later than 8 p.m. Nov. 3, the same as the deadline for delivering a ballot in person to the county Board of Elections, placing it in one of the secure ballot drop boxes or delivering it to a polling place.
To check the status of a vote-by-mail ballot, call (877) 658-6837 or visit voter.svrs.nj.gov/auth/sign-in.
Ballot drop box locations:
— Lower Township Public Safety Building: court entrance in the Cape May County Airport complex.
— County Clerk’s Office: 7 North Main St., Cape May Court House.
— County Public Works Building: 536 Woodbine-Ocean View Road.
— Sea Isle City branch library: 4800 Central Ave.
— Stone Harbor branch library: 9516 2nd Ave.
— Lower Township Municipal Hall: 2600 Bayshore Road, Villas.
— Martin Luther King Center: 207 W. Main St., Whitesboro.
— Ocean City Municipal Hall: 61 Asbury Ave.
— Upper Township Municipal Hall: 2100 Tuckahoe Road, Petersburg.
— Wildwood Municipal Hall: 4400 New Jersey Ave.
Fulginiti said people want to deliver their ballots where they feel comfortable it will be counted. She said it saves taxpayers money since the county is not paying return postage on ballots dropped in a box.
Each mail-in ballot received at home will include a letter from Fulginiti informing voters how to check the status of their ballot. Voters can register on the Division of Elections site and track their ballot from receipt to status as counted, she said.
When received, the ballot will be checked in but not counted until 10 days before the election, she said.
“If there’s an issue with the signature or something wrong, the Board of Elections is obligated to let that voter know as soon as possible by letter,” Fulginiti said.
She said a number of voters received a ballot before the primary election and threw it out. Fulginiti advised voters to open their mail-in ballot and read the instructions.
“Voting by mail is not as easy as voting in a machine and it is different than most voters are accustomed,” she said. “There are laws in place which direct a county clerk to place certain information on these materials and it can be confusing to voters.”
“We’ve done our best to simplify it,” she continued.
Fulginiti said voters will receive an outer envelope containing a ballot that uses two sides, one side to vote for candidates and the other to vote for ballot questions. Two envelopes are included and both need to be used, she said.
Voters will place their completed ballot in the yellow envelope, seal it and write their name, address and sign it on the flap.
“That signature is what is checked against voter registration records so that the Board of Elections knows that voter did in fact vote his ballot and that’s his signature and certification,” Fulginiti said. “That yellow certification envelope goes in a business reply envelope that’s addressed to the Board of Elections.”
That envelope has the voter’s name and address on the left side with a bar code used when the ballot is checked in by the Board of Elections.
What happens if a voter mails in their ballot and on Election Day goes to a polling place and votes again with a provisional ballot?
“Those provisional ballots will not be counted until after seven days following the election because the Board of Elections lists every deadline past with regards to the mail-in ballots because they don’t know until seven days after if that voter has returned his ballot and had it postmarked by Election Day and it didn’t come yet,” Fulginiti said.
In this election, a voter may vote on their mail-in ballot, seal it and take it to a polling place, she said.
“The election officials at the state are encouraging voters to do that simply because voting by provisional ballot delays the tally and it does create a whole lot of manual labor checking before those votes can be counted,” Fulginiti said.
Voter turnout in 2008 when Barack Obama ran for president was 78 percent in Cape May County. Fulginiti said she expected greater participation in this year’s election. The county is sending out 70,000 mail-in ballots to active voters in the county.
During the primary election, the Board of Elections was able to scan about 37,000 ballots on Election Day, Fulginiti said.
“I have confidence with them that there going to be able to have a reasonable result on Election Day,” she said.
The county is required to certify the election by Nov. 23, Fulginiti said.
For more information, visit capemaycountyvotes.com or call (609) 465-1050.