Posted on 10/07/2020 10:06:38 PM PDT by Antoninus
This is the first time in my life I have lived in a place where the polls are not open on election day. Thanks to the diktat of Obergruppenführer Murphy here in New Jersey, we are being forced to "vote by mail" in this election.
My wife and I did just that today. Only, we didn't put our ballots in the mail. I wanted to share with you all what we did instead, and what the procedure is.
After voting my ballot, putting it in the yellow envelope, signing, sealing, etc., we took our ballots directly to the Camden County Board of Elections office at 100 University Court in Blackwood. This shortens the chain of custody of the ballot and in theory will prevent your ballot from getting "lost in the mail" or "accidentally" disposed of by your municipality.
Once at the County Board of Elections office, I brought my filled out and sealed ballot to the window. This is Nanny Jersey, so masks are mandatory to enter the building, of course. Interestingly, once I arrived at the window, I had to show ID. The clerk checked the ID against the name on the ballot to make sure they matched as you are not supposed to submit anyone else's ballot. Curiously, the clerk did not compare me to picture on the ID, not that it mattered because I was mandatory wearing a face-diaper anyway.
Next, I had to fill out a form with my municipality, name, address and signature. The clerk then accepted my ballot and I got an "I voted today" sticker (woo). They also said I could keep the pen I had used because, as we know, us citizens are all contaminated and dirty.
So that's how it works if you opt to drop your ballot off at your county Board of Elections in NJ. If you live in New Jersey and haven't voted for President Trump yet, I hope this information is helpful.
Don’t vote by mail in Virginia:
RICHMOND, VA – This morning, the Department of Elections was made aware that six outdoor mail collection boxes were broken into sometime between Saturday afternoon and this morning. At this time, the United States Postal Service is investigating. Neither the Department nor USPS has any information about whether any election mail was contained in the boxes.
I received a mailing saying just that.
New Jersey was monitoring its boxes by video. Why not VA?
We voted yesterday -
We went to the county building where the election office is to hand deliver the ballots, since we had no choice but to ‘vote by mail in NJ! We asked a police officer as we walked through the courtyard towards the building entrance, and was told ‘Building is closed. No hand delivery. Drop in the ballot drop box.’
My other half, believing what he heard, obediently dropped it off at the drop box outside the building. I decided to hold on to my ballot and headed to the entrance. I asked the police/guard there if there really is no way to deliver it in person. He said ‘Yes’ and told me to go to the officer at the station slightly ahead of him. I went there. The lady official checked my id/signature, made me sign the book (including the time of the day). After she signed it, she told me my ‘number’, and showed me when she placed my ballot in the ‘box’.
So it is safely placed in the box,
whether they count it as I voted - that would be a different story here in NJ !
The neighboring town to the north was in the news for the ballots discarded by a dumpster (along with other mail); a 26 year-old carrier (from my town) is facing federal charges now. NJ was probably a foregone conclusion for Biden but this emphasizes how bad this system is.
Definitely not the same NJ I left 60 years ago.
TN begins electronic early voting Oct 14. Go Vote, Trump.
New Jersey has special ballot collection boxes that are monitored by video. The Virginia case appears to involve regular U.S. Postal Service mail boxes.
Top that off with someone from the postal service in NJ being charged with throwing away ballots in a dumpster, well it isn't good.
Yes, when your ballot is rejected for whatever reason (no signature, sigs don’t match, etc), the County or whoever is supposed to notify you so you have time to go in and correct the problem to ensure your vote counts. I would guess less than 1% of rejected votes are corrected
.
In case you are not familiar with the above, it was the character Paulie the Jersey Guy played by Joe Piscopo on SNL.
I intend to vote in person in the early voting period. Seems
to be pretty much the normal process.
Meanwhile, no one is checking ID's if we drop our ballots in a regular mailbox.
This mail-in system is a mess.
Actually, the polls ARE open on election day. I know first hand, because I’ll be working it. You can bring your mail-in ballot to your designated polling place if you have not mailed it or used a county drop-box already.
Voting machine use is reserved for certain disabled folks (the blind, I think; our training class is tomorrow). If you don’t have your mail-in ballot you can vote a provisional paper ballot at the polling place.
Not if you changed your address with the board of elections in a timely manner. Did you receive one at your new address?
New Jersey Ping. Is there still a NJ ping list?
Yes, they were regular USPS mail collection boxes that were broken in to, which is why voting by mail is not an option.
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