Press Editorial - Inexcusable Ballot Failure

Before provisional ballots were counted in November's elections in Atlantic County, several races were separated by only a few votes.

Six was the difference in one Egg Harbor City Council race. Twelve votes separated candidates in a Folsom election.

The closest race was in Mullica Township, involving incumbent Committeewoman Barbara Rheault and challenger John Walther. An initial 16-vote margin was trimmed to just one after mail and provisional ballots were tallied. It stayed a one-vote advantage for Walther after a recount.

The results clearly demonstrate how small the margin for error is in our democracy. They also demonstrate the seriousness of the failure of the Atlantic County Clerk's Office in not properly distributing the provisional ballots for November's elections.

The ballots are used when there is a potential problem at a polling place, such as a voter's registration information is missing or incomplete in the poll book, or if there is question about whether the same person may have voted by mail before appearing to cast a vote in person.

The ballot packets are supposed to be delivered to municipal clerks in sealed orange bags, which bear a sheet to be signed by anyone who has handled the bags to prevent tampering. Instead, ballots were put in manilla envelopes and attached with rubber bands to the outsides of the orange bags, according to Atlantic County Counsel James Ferguson.

New, properly secured provisional ballots were distributed to municipalities later on Election Day, but after voting was underway and an unknown number of voters needing them had been turned away.

It was unclear how many polling districts were affected, but there was plenty of confusion on Election Day. It took too long for officials to realize there was a problem and fix it.
 
   The voters who were turned away were deprived of the ability to exercise their constitutional right and possibly change the outcome. That is inexcusable in any election, but made even worse when there is such a low turnout with few high-profile races on the ballot. 

 

Superior Court Judge Mark H. Sanson has ordered the creation of a bipartisan committee to report by Feb. 1 on what went wrong and how to ensure it doesn't happen again.

Unfortunately, the panel and judge won't be able to undo the harm that was done Nov. 3, when an unknowable number of people who took the time to go to the polls were thwarted from participating. But they should take the strongest possible action to avoid a repeat and hold those accountable for the mistake.

The close races show that every vote counts. We need to make sure that every qualified voter who wants to can cast a ballot, and every vote gets counted.
http://www.pressofatlanticcity.com/opinion/editorials/our-view-inexcusable-county-ballot-failure-requires-strong-response/article_83ba0a1b-b930-55e6-a42f-060e9c15611a.html