By Paul Goldfinger, Editor@Blogfinger.net
On Saturday, September 26, the OG Home Owners Association held a Zoom meeting. About 45 people attended on-line.
The meeting introduced candidates for Freeholder in Monmouth County along with the two candidates running for a 5 year term as County Clerk.
The part that was most interesting was about voting, and that information came from the current Clerk, running for another term, Christine Hanlon, and from Grover Luisa Paster from the nonpartisan League of Women Voters. Also we found some information at NJ Spotlight.com.
Ms. Hanlon told the audience that voters are “angry” that there will be no voting machines (except for the disabled.) She said that election officials all over the state have been upset that the machines will not be used.
She said that the current changes introduced by the governor were “drastic,” and there will be pitfalls including the possibility of delayed results or rejected mail-in ballots. She would have preferred that voters have a choice. Many voters are “confused” by the paper ballots, and over 6 million are being sent out in NJ.
Most of you are familiar with the basics: Most votes will be placed using a mail-in ballot which will be sent out by Oct 5 to New Jersey registered voters. The deadline to register is October 13. You can register online. Any questions call the Clerk’s office at 732 409 7566.
When you get your ballot, sent out by the Monmouth County Clerk, you will find a card inside from Ms. Hanlon which explains the process in a readily understandable way. Both Clerk Hanlon and Luisa Paster encouraged everyone to return their ballots early.
You can mail it using the pre-paid envelope, or, even better, you can drop it off at the “secure” drop-box in the back of the Municipal Building towards the library entrance.
Those boxes are picked up and counted under the supervision of Democrats and Republicans. And videos are recording the process. There may be more rulings from Trenton about drop-box security.
Another good way to submit your paper ballot is to take it to the post office so that it gets a postmark.
You can go to the voting site on November 3 and drop off your ballot there, but there may be a line, and you must distance. If you go there without a ballot you will get a “provisional ballot,” but those get counted last. The mail-in ballots are counted first.
A provisional ballot will not be counted until the authorities are sure that such a voter has not already voted by mail, and a provisional ballot may wind up not being counted at all, even though, supposedly, “every vote is counted..”
There are those who think that the provisional ballot process is not secure and vulnerable to voting fraud.
There is concern about fraud, but Ms. Paster encouraged everyone to follow the instructions to keep their vote secure. You can go online to Monmouth County votes.
A special mailing will tell every voter where their polling place is and how to figure out the mail-in ballot which also comes with instructions. With the ballot there will be a certification envelope (don’t detach the perforated flap,) and an outer mailing envelope. Make sure that the address shows through the glassine window.
If a written ballot is rejected, you will get a notice as to how to “cure the ballot.” Miss Paster said that a reason for rejection might be a detached flap “or something like that.” She said that the paper process is slow and that we must be “patient.”
I thought she should have been more specific in explaining how a mail-in ballot might be rejected. Don’t forget to use a pen –blue or black for the scanning machine to read.
The Monmouth County Board of Election is where Ms. Hanlon’s Clerk office is: 300 Halls Mill Road in Freehold. Any questions, call them.
Both Ms. Hanlon and Ms. Paster did a fine job in presenting the voting facts at the Zoom meeting.
As for the Zoom, the new HOA President Richard Williams did a good job moderating, but my attempt to ask a question on the chat line was a failure, and I don’t know why. I don’t think the Zoom process was well explained and may be part of the reason so few attended.
CAST OF FIORELLO: