40,000 mail-in ballots were rejected in July. Is NJ prepared for November?

Melanie Sue popped into the Waldwick post office at about 10 a.m. on July 7 — primary day in New Jersey — to drop off her ballot.

Sue, of Mahwah, was one of the million-plus New Jerseyans casting their votes via mail-in ballot because of Gov. Phil Murphy’s coronavirus restrictions. She assumed the ballot would be counted, since it had to be postmarked no later than July 7.

"I remember thinking, well, I’m at least six or seven hours before the deadline," she said.

Last week, Sue received a letter from the Bergen County Board of Elections saying her vote had been rejected because it was late. A board clerk found her ballot and told her it was postmarked July 8, the day after she left it at the post office.

"I felt defeated," Sue said.

More than 40,800 primary ballots, or 2.8% of all cast, were rejected in New Jersey this year, a figure that represents a nearly eightfold increase from the last presidential primary in 2016. That year, 5,176 primary ballots were tossed.

A 2% rejection rate could play a part in a close race. In New Jersey's 3rd Congressional District in 2018, Democratic Rep. Andy Kim won by 1.3% of the votes.

All of this alarms voting rights advocates, who warn that without education on how to vote by mail properly, the number of rejected votes will increase by multitudes this fall. And it angers Democrats and Republicans who fear New Jersey has rushed to implement universal mail-in voting when the state isn’t ready.

“One of my biggest concerns about mandating that it’s 100% vote by mail is how much we are going to disenfranchise people," said Assemblywoman Holly Schepisi, R-Bergen. "How many people are going to lose their ability to vote?”

Big increase in rejected ballots

A NorthJersey.com analysis of state voting records representing a vast majority of the rejected ballots shows:

• 9,700 ballots were received too late.
• 6,092 did not have the required voter certificate.
• 4,685 had signatures on the certificates that did not match the signatures on file.
• 3,732 had no ballot enclosed.
• 8,203 were classified as rejected for "other" reasons.

A spokeswoman for the New Jersey secretary of state, who oversees elections, said the "other" designation also means the ballots were delivered late. That's not the case, according to one county clerk who said some ballots rejected for that reason were tossed because of a "mishmash" of issues. The clerk asked not to be identified contradicting state election officials.

UPCOMING ELECTION:Here are New Jersey election officials' biggest fears, concerns leading up to Nov. 3

NJ NEWS:Extra $300 a week in unemployment: What you need to know, including who would get it

Even the state's elected leaders aren’t immune to mail-in ballot problems. The votes for a New Jersey mayor and his wife were nearly rejected, one clerk told NorthJersey.com, because they mixed up their envelopes.

How votes can be rejected

So how does a ballot get placed in the “do not count” pile? Jamie Sheehan-Willis, who chairs the Bergen County Board of Elections, walked us through the process.

When election workers are processing ballots and they see a ballot with a potential issue, the ballot is set aside, Sheehan-Willis said. Then the board's six commissioners review those ballots and vote on whether they should be rejected, she said.

If three commissioners think a ballot should be rejected and three don’t, the ballot is reviewed by a Superior Court judge, she said, adding that a tie happens so rarely she can’t remember the last time a judge had to break one.

Election clerks said ballot rejections are largely the result of voter error. Voters unfamiliar with voting by mail should take their time, read the instructions and call county clerks with any questions, they say.

Story continues below gallery

But some voters said they don’t believe they made errors. One Alpine woman, who asked not to be identified, said she received a letter saying her vote was rejected because she did not enclose her ballot. She swears she did, and said her son witnessed her do it.

This voter, a Democrat, said her missing ballot makes her worry about the coming general election.

“It does concern me greatly,” she said. “What happened to it? Where is it?”

The Murphy administration has said it is happy with the results from July and dismisses criticism that universal mail-in voting can't work in New Jersey.

“There were a few hiccups,” Secretary of State Tahesha Way said last month. “Still, we view the July primary as a success because we kept voting safe, secure and accessible for New Jersey voters.”

Changes for November

Some of the major problems that led to ballot rejections in July may be fixed for November.

The Ballot Cure Act, signed into law by Murphy last month, requires election officials within 48 hours of Election Day to notify some voters whose ballots were rejected, and gives those voters another two days to fix the mistakes.

Cure letters are nothing new, and they don't always get a response. Sheehan-Willis said that of the roughly 750 cure letters the board sent after July's primary, about 400 were answered.

Not every mistake can be fixed. If there's no ballot in the envelope, the voter cannot "cure" that mistake. If the voter certificate signature does not match the signature on file, a voter will have the chance to prove the signature is theirs.

Voters will also be able to track their mail-in ballots on the state's elections website.

FOR SUBSCRIBERS:How 'illegal' donations helped one NJ law firm make millions off taxpayer dollars

WHAT TO KNOW TO VOTE:Dates to remember if you plan to vote in the 2020 presidential election in NJ

Uyen (pronounced "Winn") Khuong, executive director of ATNJ Education Fund, a nonprofit that focuses on voter education, said the chief priority of election officials in New Jersey between now and when mail-in ballots are sent to voters is to educate them on how to fill out the ballots properly. They should also use the data from July’s primary to tinker with ballot design, she said.

In Morris County, Clerk Ann Grossi oversaw a ballot redesign earlier this year to cut down on the number of rejected ballots. Grossi said she noticed a lot of ballots were tossed because voters did not sign the certificate, a flap on one of the envelopes that must be signed for the vote to be counted.

This year's Morris ballot includes new wording in red on the certificate that says, "Sign Name Here." Khuong said she believes the new design resulted in fewer ballots being discarded. The percentage of Morris County ballots rejected because of unsigned certificates was 2.2% for last year's primary and less than 1% this year, she said.

“The No. 1 thing we can do is require the secretary of state to educate voters on these things so they will overcome the security features” of the ballot, Khyong said. “We have to have these security features. We’re not trying to disenfranchise voters, but if they don’t do it correctly, they are going to have their ballots rejected.”

Terrence T. McDonald is a reporter for NorthJersey.com. For unlimited access to the most important news from your local community, please subscribe or activate your digital account today.

Email: mcdonaldt@northjersey.com Twitter: @terrencemcd