NJ's Mail-In Ballot Law Leaves Some Wondering If Votes Will Count

In 2016, Jennifer Steider was heading to Miami for a national triathlon championship as the presidential election neared. Determined to cast her ballot, she voted by mail for the first time in her life.

On Tuesday, when the Toms River woman headed to the Pleasant Plains First Aid building to cast her vote in the 2018 midterm election, she was told she had been sent a mail-in ballot — one she had not requested. Her only option? Fill out a provisional ballot.

Steider's situation has not been unique: voters across New Jersey have run into this problem Tuesday, apparently an unintended consequence of a new state law. The law, passed in August, 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. Read more here: Manasquan Residents: New Vote-By-Mail Law

That left many voters stuck with voting by provisional ballot and hoping their votes get counted.

"They said I was the fifth person in my district to be (listed) that way that didn't ask for it," Steider, 35, said. As she talked with friends, she found out she was far from alone. "There were 65 of my Facebook friends who had the same thing happen."

Voters arriving at polling places from Cherry Hill to Toms River, Montclair to Vincentown encountered the same issue: a record they had been sent a vote-by-mail ballot when they had not requested one.

"I had to fill out a provisional ballot and seal it, but I was not allowed to vote using the machine," Jonathan Greene of Montclair said in a tweet. He had received a mail-in ballot automatically because of the new law "but chose not to use it because I didn't trust that my vote would be counted via mail."

Now he has to wait until after Thursday to find out if his provisional ballot has been accepted. Under the law, mail-in ballots had to be postmarked by Nov. 6 and received by their county's election officials by Nov. 8 to be valid. So all provisional voters will have to wait through at least Thursday, possibly longer. as election workers crosscheck provisional ballots with returned mail-in ballots to ensure there's no overlap.

Ocean County election officials are telling those voting provisionally the wait will be two weeks to find out whether their vote will count.

"My biggest concern is that there is a chance that my vote won't be counted," said Tom Donner of Manchester, who voted by mail in 2016 because of a family emergency and was forced to vote by provisional ballot on Tuesday.

In Cherry Hill, voters at St. Thomas Greek Orthodox Church were apparently unaware of the new law, and some showed up to cast ballots in person.

Cherry Hill Municipal Clerk Nancy Saffos told Patch votes cast by provisional ballot "will count, as long as they didn't also vote by mail."

Ali Ghashghaei, 44, of Jersey City, said he was denied a provisional ballot at the polls Tuesday morning. He and his wife showed up at the polls at 6:40 a.m. and while she was permitted to vote, he was not, because he was listed as having received the mail-in ballot.

"It clearly said on the ballot I had the option to mail it in or vote in person," Ghashghaei said. Poll workers, however, gave him phone numbers to call and when no one answered, refused to provide the provisional ballot. "It wasn't like it was really busy. They just had no clue." He said he retrieved his mail-in ballot and mailed it. "Fingers crossed" that it gets counted, he said.

A Florence woman who asked to remain anonymous said she, her mother and her brother went to vote Tuesday morning and had three different experiences. Her mother was able to vote without issue. The woman, who's 24, was told she had been sent a mail-in ballot and was forced to vote provisionally.

Her brother, a 19-year-old college student, was not permitted to vote at all in what would have been his first national election. The worst part, she said, is he was planning to vote by mail but never received his ballot because of a mix-up at the county.

"It's absolutely awful and it sends a terrible message," she said. "It sets a tone that people's votes don't matter and it's unacceptable. In the end, things really make a difference. It was just infuriating."

It was not immediately clear now many provisional ballots had been cast Tuesday, but the changes with mail-in ballots could pose another issue: In close races, the need to wait through Thursday for mail-in ballots to arrive, and to then approve or reject provisional ballots, could delay declaration of a winner.

"I don't remember doing it, never thought it would become required, and never thought I would be prevented from physically voting," Greene said. "It's most likely my ignorance that caused this, but it still doesn't seem right."

That was a sentiment echoed by Steider.

"I voted but what a hassle," she said. "Seems like it's something shady. I ALWAYS vote in person. That (2016) was the only time I voted absentee in my life."

There were some voters with the opposite issue: they requested vote-by-mail ballots but never received them. State Sen. Sam Thompson of Middlesex County said he spoke with the clerk's office there and was told those folks should go to the polls.

"The Middlesex County Clerk is advising anyone who does not receive their mail-in ballot to go to their local polling station on Election Day and vote by provisional ballot," Thompson said. "That’s the best way to ensure that your vote will be counted."

This article includes tips from ProPublica's Electionland project, which monitors voting problems around the country. If you had trouble voting, or if you saw something you want to tell us about, here's how.

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Photo by Karen Wall, Patch staff