Here are the reasons your mail-in ballot might not be counted in new jersey

Here are the reasons your mail-in ballot might not be counted in New Jersey

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1 min read
July 13, 2020

ATLANTIC CITY, NJ – The Press of Atlantic City has reported that mail-in-ballots in Atlantic County have been incorrectly read by scanners that automatically process those ballots.  The Atlantic County Board of Elections says at least 1,200 ballots will be recounted.    The error is not likely to affect the Democrat primary election results there.  Election workers will now go through questionable ballots by hand.

Not to mention the ballots burned in a fire last month, there’s a lot of ways the ballot you mailed out might not be counted.

With over 750,000 ballots counted so far, it is estimated that as many as 75,000 votes will be invalidated statewide for errors or fraud.  The May 2020 mail-in ballot election saw a 10% rate of rejection for ballots, meaning in New Jersey, every vote no longer counts.

Some common errors include forgetting signatures, improperly marked ballots and accidental overvoting, if a voter for two candidates in the same election.   Overvoting is not possible during in-person voting on voting machines, because the machines do not allow for two votes in one race.

If you accidentally overvoted, your vote does not count.

At least 100,000 ballots remain to be counted statewide, including provisional ballots and mail-in ballots that were received after Tuesday of last week.  Still, there’s another possibility that your ballot may not be counted.  If you mailed your ballot on Election Day, many county election boards did not process or receive ballots on Friday and many were returned as undeliverable to the post office.  Those returned ballots have until tomorrow night to be returned to the election board offices in order to be eligible to be counted.

 

Phil Stilton is the Editor and Publisher of Shore News Network, an independent digital newsroom providing original reporting on New Jersey, national news, government, public policy, public safety, courts, and community affairs.

As founder of the publication, Stilton leads editorial strategy, investigative reporting, and daily newsroom operations while overseeing coverage that reaches millions of readers annually.

With extensive experience covering municipal government, county government, state legislatures, elections, law enforcement, emergency management, and public records, Stilton specializes in translating complex government actions into clear, factual reporting. His work frequently relies on primary source documents, including court filings, legislation, public meeting records, election finance disclosures, government databases, police reports, and Freedom of Information and Open Public Records Act (OPRA) requests. He has reported extensively on local government accountability, taxpayer spending, campaign finance, public corruption investigations, infrastructure, public safety, and the policies affecting New Jersey residents.

Under Stilton's editorial leadership, Shore News Network has grown into one of New Jersey's largest independent digital news organizations, publishing thousands of original news articles each year while providing breaking news coverage, investigative reporting, and analysis across state and local government. The publication's reporting is routinely sourced from official government agencies, public officials, court records, and firsthand documentation, with a commitment to transparency, attribution, corrections when warranted, and clearly distinguishing factual reporting from opinion.

Stilton's journalism follows established newsroom standards emphasizing accuracy, verification, fairness, and accountability. Every effort is made to verify information through official records and multiple reliable sources before publication. His reporting is intended to provide readers with timely, well-documented information that helps them understand the issues affecting their communities, while maintaining editorial independence from political parties, government agencies, advocacy organizations, and commercial interests.

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