How Will NJ's General Election Look This Fall? We'll Know Soon

NEW JERSEY - Facing mounting pressure to make a decision on how voting in the fall general election will look in the Garden State, Governor Phil Murphy said in his Wednesday COVID-19 briefing a roadmap would be in place soon.

"That is a decision we will make no later than the middle of August," he said.

In his remarks, Murphy referenced the changes made for primary election on July 7 were largely, if not overwhelmingly successful, noting that they are still reviewing after action data because they want to "get this right."

"It looks as if the in-person side of the equation needs to be more robust and needs to have a longer runway," he said. "So the urgency for getting a decision by the middle of August is as much for the in-person side or more for the in- person side."

One of the things Murphy noted that came out of the after action reporting was to realize their aspirations to have 50 percent of each county with at least one polling location per municipality.

"We want to make sure that is not just words and that actually happen if that is the route that we end up going," he said.

Murphy also said he is a huge believer in early voting, but for some reason New Jersey has not been able to get a law passed to enable it.

"Just think about that for a second, if you're a senior, if you're vulnerable or you're working 80 hours a week and if you knew it was not just vote-by-mail which is a huge flexibility that takes some steam out of the challenge," he said. "But if you think of having not just one day to vote but had one place that was open per county that was open, say, 30 days before the election."

Murphy said that option would make it so voters weren't reliant on their work schedule or the weather.

"I continue to love it as an option," he said.

For the primary election, which was delayed from June to July 7 had a been primarily vote-by-mail. To accommodate this, there was an extension for counting ballots made of a week. Due to the increased turnout expected for the election, Murphy was undecided if a measure like that would be taken for the fall.

"Too early to tell on the seven days extension," he said. "It clearly made a difference, should we go out further? To be determined."

Murphy also noted that as with the primary election changes, he would be including the legislative branch of the government in on the conversation.

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