By DAVID NAHAN/Sentinel staff
Clarifying his statements from last week that all registered voters in New Jersey will get mail-in ballots, Gov. Phil Murphy said Monday, Aug. 17, that voters will have multiple options on Election Day, Nov. 3.
Murphy said that by Oct. 5, ballots will be mailed to everyone in New Jersey who is registered to vote. However, they still have the right to vote in person on Election Day.
If voters go to the polls to cast their ballots, that vote will be provisional until elections officials can verify they did not already vote by mail.
For those using the mailed ballots, they have the opportunity to mail it back, to take their ballot and place it in a secure lockbox in their county of residence, or to go to the polling place on Election Day and hand their ballot to a poll worker.
Murphy said the state will guarantee there will be at least a 50 percent voting capacity per county with at least one physical location to vote in each municipality. He said the state will work with county clerks to ensure they have enough staff to handle physical voting and mail-in ballots.
Murphy said the system worked for New Jersey’s primary in July when there was shorter notice and that he is confident it will work for the general election.