In a Mostly Vote By Mail Election, There was Still Some In-Person Voting in South Orange and Maplewood – TAPinto.net
SOUTH ORANGE/MAPLEWOOD, NJ — Maplewood and South Orange residents who had not voted by mail headed to the polls to cast their votes for local and national candidates today.
In-person voting was restricted this year to only people who are disabled and unable to complete a paper ballot; other voters could choose to return their ballot to the polling location on election day or fill out a provisional paper ballot. All other ballots had to have been placed in an official drop box, returned to the board of elections or be mailed and postmarked by election day.
South Orange resident Joseph DeCicco voted in person at South Orange Middle School this election day.
“I cast a provisional ballot because I made a mistake on my mail-in and it wasn’t valid,” said DeCicco. “It went very smooth when I went into vote, there were only two people in there.”
Hilary Hoover recently moved to Maplewood, and she and her husband never received their mail-in ballots. They each took a turn going to the polls first thing this morning while the other stayed at home with their daughter. Her husband got there at opening time, 6 a.m., and found a short line. She went at 7 a.m. and said she breezed through.
Marcia Salovitz never received a ballot in the mail, and went to her polling location at 6:30 a.m. to cast her provisional vote. While there were only five people in line, she said the set up “wasn’t tight,” with no outside signage and no social distancing markers or hand sanitizer available inside. “It was managed and structured very poorly,” Salovitz said.
The South Orange resident added that from the experience, she is determined to be a poll worker herself in the future. “I can’t just complain. I gotta be there to help out and make it better” in the future, she said.
Other locals were helping in other ways. Maplewood residents Jan Kaminsky and Rhea Mokund Beck were canvassing in Philadelphia for the Biden/Harris campaign, and Susan Halper Berkley of Maplewood was volunteering by monitoring a polling place in Harrisburg, PA with CASA.
“It was educational, emotional, and fortunately not dramatic,” Berkley said. She was with CASA, a partner of the Center for Popular Democracy. “It really made me feel like part of something important,” she told TAPinto SOMA.
Polls closed at 8 p.m. across New Jersey and the Essex County Clerk’s office is expected to announce preliminary results after 9 p.m. tonight. The County Board of Elections however will continue to count votes until November 10.
OTHER LOCAL NEWS:
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Election Letters to the Editor
Dafis and Cuttle Make The List
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