Photos: Bergen County Elections Workers Prepare for Historic Count

October 26, 2020 Michael Olohan
BERGEN COUNTY ELECTIONS COMMISSIONERS Denise Ross, Richard Miller, and Paul Juliano stand near the mail-in ballot processing center Oct 24 and hold aptly decorated cookies to remind voters to vote. The center was logging ballots and preparing to start counting. / Michael Olohan photo

HACKENSACK, N.J.—Pascack Press went behind the scenes Oct. 24 for a supervised tour of Bergen County Board of Elections operations, seeing trained and careful workers do their part to ensure a reliable and accurate count.

By the time we arrived, the county had received nearly 300,000 mail-in ballots expressing the will of about 45 percent of registered voters, and the count was two days from starting.

The ballot handling, verifying, and counting operation is set to field what board chairwoman Jamie Sheehan-Willis told us could be up to 500,000 mail-in ballots from the county’s approximately 671,000 registered voters.

Sheehan-Willis said her office anticipates approximately 75 percent of registered voters will cast ballots by Nov. 3 in New Jersey’s first mostly by-mail presidential election, which Gov. Phil Murphy ordered in mid-August to help prevent the spread of coronavirus.

Under that order, county elections offices can count mail-in ballots starting Oct. 24. Sheehan-Willis told Pascack Press the mail-in count would commence Monday, Oct. 26. The totals, she said, can not be released until after the polls close on Nov. 3.

The timetable also holds that:

  • Mail-in ballots without postmarks can be accepted until Nov. 5 at 8 p.m.
  • Ballots postmarked Nov. 3 can be counted if elections officials receive them by Nov. 10.
  • Provisional paper ballots cast by voters heading to local polling places Nov. 3 will not be counted until Nov. 10, the last day election officials can receive mail-in ballots postmarked Nov. 3.

Voting at the polls is greatly restricted this year, and town clerks have been advising voters to take advantage of one of the county’s 18 official secure drop boxes rather than rely on the U.S. Postal Service to make sure ballots reach counters in time. The nearest county drop box in our service area is behind Hillsdale Borough Hall.

Editor’s note: We are grateful to the Bergen County Board of Elections for the following glimpse of these important operations, which we were interested in reporting as part of our commitment to helping educate our readers—including students—in civic matters. At no time did we interact with any ballots, interfere with any operations, or see or record any voter’s information. All photos by Pascack Press staff writer Michael Olohan.

BERGEN COUNTY ELECTIONS COMMISSIONERS Denise Ross, Richard Miller, and Paul Juliano stand near the mail-in ballot processing center Oct 24 and hold aptly decorated cookies to remind voters to vote. The center was logging ballots and preparing to start counting.
MIKE DVORAK, a consultant with Election Systems and Software, demonstrates the ballot counting machines Bergen County uses. The machine counts and sorts votes and ballot sheets.
ELECTION STAFFERS separate the inner ballot, remove the voter certificate, and place the outer envelope and ballot in separate boxes. This keeps each voter’s ballot secret. These ballots are then run through the ballot counting machines.
MAIL-IN BALLOTS sorted by town are ready to be transported to a larger room to be opened, separated, and then prepared for counting at the Board of Elections facilities.
DOZENS OF signature checkers in three rooms verify the voters’ signatures against previous signatures provided on official state documents, such as voter rolls and driver licenses.
ELECTIONS COMMISSIONERS Jamie Lagana and Jamie Sheehan-Willis examine a ballot flagged for a signature discrepancy. By Oct. 24, more than 1,000 “cure letters” were sent out to voters to resolve signature discrepancies. During the primary election, over 55 percent of discrepancies were resolved.
ALL MAIL-IN ballots are scanned into the system and scored across its top so that they may be later signature-checked, voter certifications-checked, separated into outer envelope and ballot, and ballots scanned and counted to maintain the anonymity of the voter.
AFTER BEING SCANNED into the system and slit open, ballot envelopes are sorted by town to prepare for their next stop: signature checking by scores of checkers.
BOARD OF ELECTIONS Chairwoman Jamie Sheehan-Willis explains that ballots are removed from their envelope and separated from the outer envelope for final scanning. This maintains ballot secrecy as no ID is connected to the ballot scanned. Scores of workers were assisting in such efforts.
MORE THAN 100 workers were assisting in separating ballots from envelopes to prepare for final vote scanning. Nearly 300,000 mail-in ballots had been received by Oct. 24 in Bergen County. The county has approximately 670,522 registered voters.

For more information, visit Election 2020 at Pascack Press. There you’ll find Michael Olohan’s curated election guide to the council and school board candidates in your town, the race for the Congressional Fifth District, the state’s three ballot questions, and interviews with Bergen County elections officials and local mayors and town clerks. To join the conversation, check out our letters to the editor and other content in your locally owned, free, and weekly Pascack Press.