Elections Board

HUNTERDON COUNTY BOARD OF ELECTIONS COMMISSIONERS AND THE VOTING REVIEW PROCESS

There are four Board of Elections Commissioners – two Republicans and two Democrats – who are appointed to two-year terms by the Governor of New Jersey and who have oversight to the functions of the staff of the Board of Elections.  The Commissioners serve for alternating two-year terms and are administered an oath of office upon appointment.

The Commissioners meet on preset dates that are scheduled in accordance with the election cycle to adjudicate paper ballots (either Vote by Mail or Provisional) identified for special handling by the Board of Elections Staff (BOE) staff.  These meetings are open to the public. The BOE staff has full-time employees who handle all aspects of an election including but not limited to poll worker training and staffing, election machine software updates and operation, receiving and validating mail-in ballots, and scanning mail-in and provisional ballots.  Final election results are tabulated and posted by the County Clerk’s office.

Machine Ballots

Most ballots are cast on voting machines during early voting and on election day.  These ballots are recorded and tabulated on the machines, are stored in sealed canisters, and are not seen or handled by anyone prior to the close of voting.

Vote by Mail (VBM) Ballots

VBM ballots are put into drop boxes, delivered by mail or by hand to the BOE office.  They are screened by the BOE staff to make sure all the requirements for VBM are met.  Most VBM ballots are properly submitted and are processed by the staff with no Commissioner involvement.  Some VBM ballots are flagged by the staff for review by the Commissioners.  A partial list of why a VBM ballot might be flagged is that the voter’s signature does not match their reference signature, a certificate is missing from the envelope, the ballot is for the wrong election (primary versus general, for example), or the ballot is received late.  These ballots are set aside for review by the Commissioners, who meet once a week (more often if needed) for this purpose.  The four Commissioners review every flagged ballot and vote on how to proceed with a tie vote going to the voter.  If the ballot is eligible for curing a “cure” letter is sent to the voter. Otherwise, depending on the situation, the ballot is rejected or moved through for processing. 

The confidentiality of the ballot is fully maintained during the review process. The VBM ballot is in a sealed envelope that is inside the outer envelope which contains the certificate and voter information.  The Commissioners see the outer envelope but do not review the ballot itself.

Recent legislation allows for opening of vote by mail ballots prior to election day. The certificates are removed from the ballots so the voter cannot be identified at this step. Staff and Commissioners are both subject to stiff sanctions for disclosing election information prior to the close of voting on Election Day.

Other Situations 

Besides VBM ballots, provisional and overseas ballots are handled outside the voting machines.  These ballots are fed through a high-speed scanner that reads the bubble marks and records the votes.  In some cases, the machine cannot read the bubble mark, or there could be unclear extraneous marks, or there is a write-in name on the ballot.  These ballots are automatically flagged by the scanner for further review, which is done by the Commissioners.  Working in pairs with one Democrat and one Republican, the commissioners review each flagged ballot to determine the voter’s intent and cast the ballot.  For example, a voter might have used check-marks to indicate their choice rather than filling in the bubble.  These ballots do not contain any information that identifies the voter to the Commissioners or anyone else handling the ballots.