Voting by paper ballot is new to a lot of New Jersey Voters. What could go wrong and what should you do about it?
There are two offices that handle elections and have different roles. The Morris County Clerk’s office handles printing and mailing of ballots.
The Morris County Board of Elections is responsible for collecting and processing returned ballots.
- For voters who misplaced, damaged, or have not yet received their mail-in ballot, the Morris County Clerk is the best starting point. Contact the County Clerk’s Election Office phone line at 973-285-6066 or email CountyClerk@co.morris.nj.us with your concerns & provide full name, date of birth, address, & phone number so they can respond.
- If you returned your ballot a while ago, but it doesn’t show ‘received’ or eventually ‘accepted’ in your Voter account, you can call the Morris County Board of Elections: 973-285-6715 or email them: elections@co.morris.nj.us. Ballots can be counted even after the election.
- And for anyone not sure, or general voter questions, Mikie Sherrill’s office has a voter protection hotline setup: voterprotection@mikiesherrill.com or call 973-370-2253.
Some common issues may be:
- If your ballot shows as ‘rejected’ in your Voter account. Check your mail and see if you received a “cure” letter that instructs you on how to fix issues with your ballot. If you have it, complete and return it right away. Call the Board of Elections office if you have no letter or questions.
- If you put the ballot in backwards and the return address isn’t showing. The barcode showing in the window only provides a benefit to the scanners in the Board of Elections so as to make it easier to scan the front of the enclosed envelope. If the barcode is not showing then the employee of the Board of Elections simply needs to open up the return envelope in order to scan the barcode.
Below were the top reasons ballots were rejected in the primary, from ATNJ. Read the full details on their website.
