Monmouth Freeholders: Nov. Election Should Not Be Mail-In Only

At their meeting last Thursday, July 23, the Monmouth County Board of Freeholders unanimously passed this resolution opposing the exclusive use of mail-in ballots for this November’s general election.

Due to coronavirus, New Jersey is considering making the November election vote-by-mail only. The July primary was mostly vote-by-mail, with very few open polling stations in the state.

NJ.com just published this article, interviewing multiple county clerks across New Jersey who say mail-only voting is fraught with problems, such a mail delays, misprinted ballots and low voter response.

Gov. Murphy has not yet made a decision whether November will be vote-by-mail only, but the Monmouth Freeholders said they have expressed their concerns about solely mail-in voting to the governor.

“My fellow Freeholders and I are gravely concerned as the exclusive mail-in ballot ‘experiment’ has been difficult at best and should not be conducted when selecting individuals to lead Boards of Educations, political parties and bodies of government,” said Monmouth County Freeholder Director Tom Arnone. “As we have seen repeatedly in the past, using mail-in ballots increases the risk of voter fraud and causes delays in counting ballots.”

Four men in Paterson were charged earlier this year with fraud, after officials say they illegally collected and processed mail-in ballots in a local city election there. After that election was done by mostly mail-in voting, the New Jersey Attorney General alleges that the names of deceased residents were cast for two winning city Council candidates. Also, people who said they did not receive vote-by-mail ballots had their names recorded as voting for the winning candidates.

The county election election board disqualified 19 percent of ballots cast in that Paterson race.

Like many Republicans, President Donald Trump likes to refer to the Paterson case as an example of what could go wrong when only mail-in voting is used.

“The 2020 Election will be totally rigged if Mail-In Voting is allowed to take place, & everyone knows it. So much time is taken talking about foreign influence, but the same people won’t even discuss Mail-In election corruption. Look at Patterson, N.J. 20% of vote was corrupted!” the president tweeted Sunday afternoon.

Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, New Jersey law permitted residents to request mail-in ballots for any reason, therefore enhancing voter choice, while others still preferred to cast their ballot electronically on Election Day.

“The Board of Chosen Freeholders believes that voter choice should refer to ‘how to vote,’ in addition to ‘who to vote for,’ in any given election cycle,” said Arnone. “On behalf of the Board, I urge the Secretary of State and 21 County Clerks to utilize in-person voting in conjunction with mail-in balloting come Tuesday, November 3."

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