Bergen County Republican Organization (BCRO) Chairman Jack Zisa wants Gov. Murphy’s administration to explain what he describes as the state’s “convoluted” vote by mail system, confusing to many voters throughout the state since its inception last year. The chairman also said the vote by mail system needs to be changed. 

“Before we go through another General Election without a clear understanding of the vote by mail rules, I believe it is urgent for Gov. Murphy’s administration to clearly explain how the VBM will work this year and what election workers, and campaign officials and voters should know,” said Zisa. “It’s the governor’s legislation and it’s been confusing since it was signed.

The new vote by mail (VBM) legislation passed in the waning moments of the 2018 legislative session while the legislature was in the midst of finalizing the FY 2019 budget.

https://www.app.com/story/news/politics/elections/2018/09/13/election-2018-nj-vote-mail-law-confuses-voters-election-staff/1279843002/

“The new VBM regulations were bad law when they were introduced in 2018 and remain bad law now.  The law is confusing to voters and poll workers and has had a chilling effect on many voters,” said Zisa.

The BCRO chairman said many thousands of mail-in ballot applications have gone to addresses no longer used by voters. And when those voters show up at the polls to exercise their voting rights, they are told they can vote only by provisional ballot, which adds to the voter’s confusion and creates distrust of the voting process. He also said the state is wasting tens of thousands of dollars mailing ballot applications to incorrect addresses. He noted 5,000 ballots were returned to the Bergen County Board of Elections in the most recent June Primary Election. 

The 2018 law rolled anyone who voted by mail in the 2016 Presidential Election – the election with the biggest voter turnout – into a category that will continue to receive VBM ballots every election whether the voter asks for one or not, Zisa said. The rules changed for those who voted by mail in 2017 and 2018. To stop receiving a VBM application the voter has to opt out of the automatic mail-in ballot category in writing – a time consuming process that few voters know enough about. 

OPT-IN NOT OPT-OUT

Zisa questioned why the state is putting the onus on voters to initiate action regarding mail in voting.  “The law should be changed immediately to an opt-in system rather than an opt-out system. Why place the burden on the voter to go through a complicated process of changing how he or she wants to vote. And why are voters who chose to vote by mail in 2016 for reasons specific to that year being locked out of polling booth?”

The chairman said the VBM legislation had no Republican sponsors or co-sponsors and got no Republican votes in the senate and just two in the Assembly.

“Obviously the VBM law change was a calculated move by the Democrats to abuse the mail-in vote system to help their candidates,” said Zisa.

The chairman noted that in 2017 – a gubernatorial year, there were 13,571 mail-in votes cast in Bergen County. The Democrat candidates for freeholder got about 7,500; Republicans received 5,000. In 2018 – the first year under the new law, the VBM numbers skyrocketed to 35,101 votes. The Democrats took about 27,000 of those votes, the Republican received 11,500.

“Clearly the Democratic Party which authored and passed the legislation was prepared well in advance on how to take advantage of the new law they created. I am certain that if the VBM numbers were reversed, the Democratic Party would be calling for an investigation into voter fraud,” said the GOP chair.