Manasquan Residents: New Vote-By-Mail Law

Monmouth County Clerk Christine Giordano Hanlon is advising Manasquan and other residents that a new law signed by Gov. Phil Murphy in August dramatically changed the vote-by-mail rules in New Jersey.

These changes are effective immediately and will impact the November General Election.

One of the changes involves how a voter can apply for a mail-in ballot. Before the change in the law, a voter had three options on the application. The voter could opt for receiving a mail-in ballot for one election, all elections in one calendar year and all future general elections.

Now, a voter has only two options for voting by mail.

A voter can request a mail-in ballot for one election or for all elections every year until the voter opts out in writing. Most importantly, the new law mandates that all voters who voted by mail in the 2016 General Election be sent a mail-in ballot for the 2018 General Election, even if they did not request one.

If these voters do not want to receive a 2018 General Election mail-in ballot, they must notify the county clerk in writing to opt out.

All of these 2016 mail-in ballot voters will be sent a letter from the County Clerk’s Office advising of this change. It is important to remember that any voter who receives a mail-in ballot will not be permitted to vote on a voting machine on Election Day.

Voters can download the updated vote-by-mail application from the county elections website at MonmouthCountyVotes.com and from the free Monmouth County Votes Mobile App.

If you have any questions about the process or questions about the new law, please contact the County Clerk’s Elections Division at 732-431-7790.

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