Over 100 Mail-In Ballots Weren't Counted In Mercer County: Report

As Mercer County encourages more voters to vote-by-mail, a large number of uncounted vote-by-mail ballots was recently discovered at the Post Office in Hamilton Township.

A total of 130 vote-by-mail ballots that were never counted were discovered at the post office in July, the Princeton Packet reports. Most ballots were postmarked May 31 or June 1, and voters in both parties in every municipality were impacted. However, the uncounted ballots didn’t have an impact on the outcome of the election.

At a press conference last month, Mercer County officials announced they would send vote-by-mail applications to all voters in the county in an effort to increase voter participation.

There was a 14 percent voter turnout for this year’s primary elections, and a 55 percent turnout for last year’s presidential election. There are about 227,000 registered voters in the county. The effort has increased voter participation in Middlesex, Camden and Bergen counties.

County officials said they will meet with the post office to discuss the undelivered ballots next week, according to the report.

The deadline to submit an application by mail is Oct. 31. Applications can also be downloaded on the New Jersey State Board of Elections website. A voter may also apply in person to the county clerk’s office by 3 p.m. the day before an election, according to the county’s website.

Applications may be obtained at the Mercer County Connection office, located in the Hamilton Square Shopping Center at Route 33 and Paxson Avenue in Hamilton, and mailed in to the Office of the Mercer County Clerk. For more information, or a Vote by Mail application, call 609-989-6494.

Patch file photo