PASCACK VALLEY—With interest and passions running high for the Nov. 5 presidential election, county elections officials are hoping more registered voters vote early at one of the nine early voting locations in Bergen County, including two in Pascack Valley, officials told Pascack Press.
This is the first presidential election in New Jersey to feature early voting.
The early voting period starts Saturday, Oct. 26, and runs every day through Sunday, Nov. 3. The two Pascack Valley locations are at River Vale Senior Community Center, 628 Rivervale Road, River Vale, and Woodcliff Lake’s Tice Senior Center, 411 Chestnut Ridge Road.
“We know there’s going to be lines on Election Day so we would encourage any registered voter to take advantage of early voting. Especially if you haven’t voted on a machine since the presidential election in 2016,” Superintendent of Elections Debra Francica told us.
“We encourage people to early vote at any of the nine locations, and avoid the lines and wait likely on Election Day,” she added.
County elections officials said nearly 6,000 Bergen County registered voters cast early ballots in the June 4 Primary Election over a five-day period. Out of 5,995 early voters, officials reported 65% were Democrats and 35% Republicans.
Francica said the word about early voting is spreading slowly, and she hopes more voters realize how easy and convenient it is. “Once you vote early, people are amazed it is so easy and they’re hooked,” she said.
She said even some of her own relatives were unaware of where to go to vote early. She noted that the state promised to better promote early voting this year.
In 2020’s last presidential election, Gov. Phil Murphy required registered voters in New Jersey to vote by mail due to the Covid pandemic.
Francica said she’s spoken at more than a dozen senior centers, appeared on community television in Montvale and a commissioner’s podcast, to promote the benefits of early voting for all the county’s voters. She said full-page ads listing the early voting sites were planned to appear in weekly newspapers a week before early voting starts.
So far, she said a little over 19,000 people voted early in the November 2022 general election – the highest since it began in 2021 – and this year she said she hoped for at least 30,000 or more early voters.
She said the early votes are all recorded on secure digital cards at each ballot scanning device and when early voting ends, the cards are brought to the county clerk’s office and securely stored until 8:01 p.m. on Tuesday, Nov. 5, when they are counted.
She said voters unsure of the new machine voting process could check out a three-minute video at co.bergen.nj.us/superintendent-of-elections-temp/new-voter-instruction-videos.
She said two information pieces mailed to all registered voters countywide by the county clerk’s office feature a listing of the nine early voting locations and hours.
Moreover, she said sample ballots that often go out a week or more before election day also list early voting locations.
Francica suggested voters bring the sample ballots with them to a polling place, as the barcode holds their voter ID, and can be scanned by the poll worker’s iPad to verify their voter registration. It will expedite check-in whether early voting or on Election Day, she said.
Francica said every four years for presidential elections, voters who hardly ever vote come out and vote. She said their unfamiliarity with election machines and how to vote at a polling place can cause long lines and waits for voters hoping to cast a ballot on Election Day.
She said by early voting, registered voters can avoid those hassles and cast their vote with minimal inconvenience.
Other locations for early voting are in Fort Lee, Garfield, Hackensack, Paramus, Teaneck, Wood-Ridge, and Wyckoff. Check the county clerk’s office webpage, or call your municipal clerk for more information. Any registered voter in Bergen County can vote early at any of the nine early voting polling sites, officials said. Early voting hours are Monday to Saturday. 10 a.m. to 8 p.m., and Sundays, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Last November, elections officials faced what they called a “perfect storm” of untrained poll workers, new voting machines, and slow system servers that produced a chaotic Election Day, which was unusual for an off-year election.
However, this year, poll workers have had mandatory training (including this reporter) for both the primary and general elections, officials have demonstrated the new voting machines (purchased in early 2023) in dozens of towns and posted easy-to-follow videos on the county clerk’s office elections website. They can be found under the “Elections & Voting” drop-down menu.
New systems for reporting results securely have been implemented, officials told us.