Wrong Ballots Mailed To Ocean Co. Voters By 'Human Error:' Clerk

TOMS RIVER, NJ — Ocean County voters are being urged to take a close look at their mail-in ballots as soon as they arrive after more than 70 voters received ballots for the wrong town.

Ocean County Clerk Scott Colabella, whose office is in charge of mailing the ballots, confirmed that some voters in Point Pleasant Boro received ballots that had the Long Beach Township local races on them.

"As best we can ascertain, a very few voters out of the 14,605 active registered voters in Point Pleasant Boro incorrectly received a Vote by Mail Ballot for Long Beach Township rather than for Point Pleasant," Colabella said by email. He said the mistake was simply innocent human error.

"We take very seriously the importance of accuracy in administering the election process and regret any innocent human error that may occur in processing a record volume of over 424,000 Vote by Mail Ballots to voters," Colabella said.

Vote-by-mail ballots are being sent to active voters throughout New Jersey under an order by Gov. Phil Murphy in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic.

Colabella said ballots have been mailed to active voters in most 26 of the 33 municipalities in Ocean County, primarily the smallest towns. As of Thursday, the clerk's office still had to mail ballots active voters in Berkeley, Brick, Jackson, Lakewood, Manchester, South Toms River and Toms River. Colabella, who said his office's five employees have been supplemented with other county staff, have been working seven days a week to get all of the ballots stuffed — which includes the ballot, a postage-paid envelope to return the ballot, and the outer envelope — and mailed.

Colabella said the error appears to be limited to Point Pleasant voters, and correct ballots have been issued to those who have contacted the clerk's office.

The error, however, has only fueled the controversy over mail-in voting that has boiled for weeks on social media.

A Patch reader who posted about the issue said the voters she had heard from several friends who are registered Democrats about the error.

"What if it's too late to correct when the voter realizes the issue? What if they don't notice at all because they don't follow local politics and don't recognize the other people on the ballot as being from another town?" she wrote in an email. "Could it be considered voter suppression to not even have your congresssional race on your ballot, or board of ed, or mayor and council?"

Colabella said voters should check their ballots immediately and call the county clerk's office at 732-929-2018 for assistance. Voters who don't look at their ballot until Election Day will be able to get a correct ballot in person at the Ocean County Clerk's Office.

Reports about the incorrectly stuffed ballots sparked anecdotes on social media of voters receiving ballots despite no longer living in Ocean County or no longer living at an address.

One woman from Tuckerton said her daughter received a ballot but had not lived there in two years. Another person wrote they had received a ballot for the previous owner of their home — and that person had sold the home and moved several years ago.

Colabella deferred questions on how active voters were determined for the mailings, and how often voter rolls are updated to the Ocean County Board of Elections.

He said the Board of Elections would be able to provide answers on what someone should do if they receive a mail-in ballot for someone who no longer lives at their address or someone who has died.

The Ocean County Board of Elections also oversees verification of mail-in ballots. By statute, the Board of Elections is made up of two Republicans and two Democrats and are appointed by the governor. The current board chairman is Frank B. Holman III, the head of the Ocean County Republican Party. The secretary is Commissioner Wyatt R. Earp, who leads the Ocean County Democratic Party. Rabbi Yisroel Schenkolewski, a Republican, and Matthew Sage, a Democrat, round out the commissioners. There are two supervisors: Jason Varano, a Democrat, and Beth McGuckin, a Republican.

Colabella deferred to the Board of Elections on the verification process, and said the board would be able to say how many mail-in ballots were rejected during the July primary votes.

Multiple requests by Patch to the Board of Elections for information on these issues have not been answered.

Voters with questions or concerns can call the Board of Elections at 732-929-2167, or toll free at 1-800-452-5254.

Colabella did say that voters who go to their polling place on Election Day have the option of casting their ballot by voting a paper provisional ballot, as long as they did not vote on a mail-in ballot and return it.

"The provisional ballots are all counted by the Board of Elections after they determine that a vote- by-mail ballot was not received and counted for that voter and that the voter is registered," Colabella said.

Voters who choose to complete and return the mail-in ballots have five secure drop boxes to choose from, and 12 more drop boxes are being installed around the county. Their locations will be announced on the Ocean County Clerk's website under the election information as soon as they are ready.

The Ocean County Board of Freeholders sent Gov. Phil Murphy a resolution urging him to allow in-person voting on the voting machines in August, but that resolution and ones supporting it in several towns have made no headway on the issue.

Colabella said it's unlikely the governor will change course with less than five weeks until Election Day. "I can assure you that if the law was overturned, both the state and county election officials would implement safeguards to ensure that only one vote would count per person."

Read more about mail-in voting in New Jersey:

• NJ Vote-By-Mail Concerns? Patch Asked A County Clerk For Answers
• Mail-In Ballots Are Arriving, NJ: Here Is Video On How To Use One
• What's A NJ Provisional Ballot? How Does It Work? Patch Found Out
• Do Mail-In Ballots Force NJ Voters To Lie? Here's The Answer
• How Are Election Signatures Verified In NJ? Patch Found Out
• How To Register, Track Your General Election Vote Online In NJ
• Key 2020 Voting Deadlines In New Jersey

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