HACKENSACK—Bergen County elections officials told their dozens of municipal clerks that improvements are inbound for the voting process, voter education, and election night vote tabulations to make the 2024 elections safer, easier, and more secure during a highly charged presidential election year.
The Feb. 23 Annual Clerks Meeting held at 2 Bergen County Plaza in Hackensack was day two of the county election officials’ post-mortem on the 2023 election cycle.
The county has 70 municipalities and the highest number of registered voters statewide. The clerks heard updates from officials in the County Clerk’s Elections Division, the county superintendent of elections office, and the county Board of Elections.
Along with county elections officials, municipal clerks help manage polling operations during all local elections.
During the Nov. 7 election, at least three towns in our area—Emerson, Township of Washington, and Woodcliff Lake—told us of long lines at some polling places, due to higher than expected turnout and voters’ unfamiliarity with the new voting machines.
(See “Elections efficiency in spotlight after 2023 criticism,” Michael Olohan, Dec. 16, 2023.)
Soon after the Nov. 7 election, County Executive James Tedesco III and County Board of Commissioners chair Thomas Sullivan wrote county election officials taking them to task for malfunctioning voting machines, insufficiently trained poll workers, and long lines experienced by many voters during an off-year state election “with relatively low turnout,” adding that the glitches “are concerning, especially ahead of the upcoming 2024 presidential election.”
Other issues raised by Tedesco and Sullivan included delayed and prolonged reporting times for election results following Election Day voting, and a lack of voter education on how to use the new Dominion voting machines.
Improved in-person voting
Superintendent of Elections Debra Francica said a large green magnetic poster will be added to the voting machines instructing voters to, “Wait for the Green Check before taking ballot from printer!” with an image of a large check mark in a green circle.
Officials said many problems were caused by voters removing their printed ballots before they finished printing on both sides.
She said that in Mercer County where such a sign was used, although smaller, that cut down problems with early ballot retrievals by almost 90%.
She said they made a large sign to catch voters’ attention. “In Bergen, we go big or we go home.”
She also posed for pictures with the sign for Pascack Press.
‘How to Vote’ video inbound
Also, Francica said a new how-to-vote video produced in English, Spanish and Korean will soon be posted to the county clerk’s elections website under the Elections & Information menu under Election Information. The hyperlink for the how-to voting videos will be sent to local clerks to publicize and post on municipal websites, Francica said.
The county replaced its previous voting machines—used for 30 years—last year with digital Dominion voting machines that provide a paper record of each voter’s vote for voter security and later auditing of voting results.
Approximately 30% of registered county voters cast ballots in the 2023 General Election Nov. 7—or 203,785 out of 665,727 voters—with many Bergen County voters using the new Dominion machines for the first time. Officials expect a 70% or higher turnout of registered voters to cast ballots in the Nov. 5 presidential election.
Before that, registered Democratic and Republican voters will cast ballots in the June 4 Primary Election.
Officials said some technical glitches with poll books, which are iPads used to sign in registered voters entering the polling place occurred last November when the iPads did not properly encode plastic cards used for accessing the election ballot on the machine.
However, the iPads will no longer use plastic cards. Instead a slip of paper will be produced with a distinct “activation code” telling the poll worker whether the voter votes on a regular ballot or a provisional ballot.
When the voter approaches the machine, the machine displays voting instructions and a “Go To Ballot” button on the bottom right which takes the voter to the ballot.
Three ways to vote…
Like last year, all registered voters may decide to vote any one of three ways. Registered voters can vote during early-voting periods at select countywide polling places. Last year, Bergen County offered nine early-voting locations, including River Vale and Woodcliff Lake.
Also, registered voters may also request a vote-by-mail ballot and submit a mail-in ballot at any of the countywide drop boxes or via U.S. Mail. Last November, the county had 32 secure drop-box locations. And of course, voters can vote in-person on Election Day, Tuesday, Nov. 5.
County Clerk John Hogan told clerks the “proactive steps” his office has taken to shorten election night reporting times for the public. Polls are open 6 a.m. to 8 p.m. for the Primary and General elections.
He said at 8 p.m. on election night, early voting results will be released first to the public on the county clerk’s voting website. He said he hopes to release preliminary vote-by-mail results by 8:15 p.m., noting “a commitment” from Board of Elections chair Richard Miller.
10 officers, 10 vehicles for election pickups
He said in order to expedite voting machine results on election night, he has a commitment from County Sheriff Anthony Cureton “that 10 sheriff’s officers with 10 vehicles will be available” and accompanied by 10 county clerk office staffers, “will be authorized to pick up the orange case containing the (secure digital) SD cards” from selected towns to expedite voting machine reporting.
He said they will also have access to five more vehicles from county security should they need them.
He said County Clerk’s Office elections officials were soon to select which towns will be picked up by the sheriff’s officers vehicles, partly based on late arrivals during the November election and possibly some towns with high numbers of registered voters and districts.
He said non-selected towns will follow the normal drop-off process at the One Bergen County Plaza address for the orange case containing results from local polling stations. Hogan said the new procedures were because “only half the towns had brought their (machine) results to us by 10 p.m.” and noted “the final three towns arrived at or near midnight.”
Hogan said to assist vote tabulation on Election nights, his office ordered three new computer stations and SD card readers to enhance results uploading “that will increase efficiency and timeliness” of posting election results.
“We will use one system until certification. This will avoid the possibility of a wrong file transfer,” he told the clerks.
He said “working with county, state and federal law enforcement agencies, we continue to enhance the security of our election process, including cyber and physical security” including election night security.
Addressing problems last November related to lack of poll worker training, Board of Elections Chair Richard Miller said all poll workers working the June 4 Primary and Nov. 5 General Election would undergo training prior to each election.
He said the poll worker training would be “mandatory” and each worker would be required to undergo two training sessions. Poll workers are paid $300 on election days and $50 to attend each training session, officials said.
He also said they hoped to again reach out to recruit student poll workers from selected high schools and colleges to assist at polling locations from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. He said residents or students interested in working the polls should contact the county Board of Elections or visit its website.
Miller noted they anticipate receiving approximately 100,000 mail-in ballots this November. “I want to encourage you to tell people to put them in the drop boxes,” he said, noting the 32 secure drop boxes countywide are picked up daily and the ballots scanned in daily. He said last year some mail-in ballots sent via U.S. Mail arrived after the election and could not be counted.
‘Misinformation and distrust’
County Clerk Elections Divisions Supervisor Sabrina Taranto said as the county prepares for the 2024 presidential election, “We know one of the biggest challenges we face is misinformation and distrust of this process,” she said.
Taranto said the division has a dot-gov website that “sets us apart from all the noise. Our goal is to be the trusted source of election information in Bergen County,” she added.
She said the division has also been “building up our social media presence” on X (formerly Twitter) as many people get election information online. She said across the nation, election authorities “are facing threats to the safety and security of their facilities.”
She said her office partnered with the state homeland security office and county administration, and plans to reconstruct their offices to protect equipment and staff, as well as “improve efficiency, protect election integrity, and better the voting experience.”
She said working with the county information technology department has helped to enhance cybersecurity.
Taranto showed a slide noting the increases in vote by mail ballot requests, starting in 2016 up until 2023. From 40,259 in 2016 and 22,060 in 2017, the numbers rose to 87,042 in 2021, 84,347 in 2022, and 81,713 in 2023. In 2020, due to the Covid pandemic, Gov. Phil Murphy ordered that all registered voters be provided mail-in ballots. Officials said they expect at least 100,000 mail-in voters this November.
Jamie Sheehan-Willis, deputy superintendent of elections, said since September 2022, she had removed “just under 28,000 voters” from voter registration. She said about 9,700 had died, 1,300 were considered “inactive” because they had not voted in a long time, 4,000 had moved, and 500 names were duplicates.
She said over 18,000 registered voters had not voted in “10 years or more” and said officials “are combing through those one by one.” She said some of the households include adult children who have grown and moved to other states where they are registered.
However, the parents often continue to accept the sample ballots mailed to the house, she said, “So these people are still active on the voter rolls,” she noted.
She noted two registered voters, one who died in 1992 and one in 1993, were still listed as registered voters though neither had voted since their deaths.
The reason they were listed is no one sent back the sample ballot marked “voter is deceased” or “voter no longer lives here” or called the Superintendent of Elections office, she said.
She said residents receiving ballots for someone no longer residing there should let them know. She said removing voters no longer living or residing at a prior address saves money on mailing out sample ballots.
Budget increase for local equipment
Francica told the clerks the county has increased its budget for voting equipment and allocated it for polling locations. She said all pertinent deadline date information for candidates’ filing, party affiliation deadline dates, and more are posted on their website.
She said during both the primary and general election, there will be more “roving” Dominion technical experts in the field to assist towns experiencing any problems with the machines. She said the county was divided into six sections that will be serviced by the Dominion techs.
Francica said that 90% of visits made last November by Dominion techs to polling locations were due to paper jams on the voting machines or dislodged paper trays.
She said a “MacGyver”-like fix by workers in the machine warehouse was able to reduce the likelihood of any future paper tray misalignment.
Francica said that extra paper for the iPads and voting machines will be distributed to local clerks in advance of elections.
“Nobody’s going to be running out of paper,” she said, noting another problem faced during the last general election.
