Despite sunny skies and warm temperatures, voters around the Garden State are not overrunning their polling places, at least so far, according to local election officials Watch video
STATEWIDE — Despite sunny skies and warm temperatures, voters around the Garden State are not overrunning their polling places, at least so far, according to local election officials.
Marie Oakie, Union County’s commissioner of registration, said this second Tuesday in November looks to be, well, unhurried.
“It’s not a presidential election,” she said from her office in Elizabeth, where staff were otherwise inspecting a few absentee ballots whose validity was being questioned.
“Maybe it’s going to be slow today,” Oakie said.
Her assessment was being echoed throughout the state, where residents who do cast a ballot will help reconstitute the entire Legislature and also have a say in whether legalized sports betting has a chance.
Anecdotal indications so far, though, are that maybe even fewer than the one-in-three who were eligible to vote in 2007 – which marked the last occasion when the state legislature was top of the ballot – could make it to the polls.
Atlantic County’s superintendent of elections, John Mooney, said that while some communities there were seeing a decent voter turnout, most were experiencing weak to moderate numbers.
“It’s not a presidential election, it’s not a gubernatorial elections and there are no (U.S.) senators up for election,” Mooney said. “The interest doesn’t seem to be there to have the turnout that is what we hope for.”
In Somerset County, board of elections staff out from their Somerville headquarters were so far dedicating their efforts to making sure campaign signs under question were in fact the mandated 100 feet from polling places.
“As of right now, it’s been quiet,” said Jerry Midgette, Somerset County’s board of elections administrator. “Things seem pretty slow.”
Phyllis Pearl, Camden County’s superintendent of elections, said that as is usual on midmornings election day, her duties are functional.
“My concern is that the machines are working properly,” Pearl said from her Pennsauken office. “I want to make sure every voter has the ability to cast a ballot, that they have a pleasant voting experience.”
So far, she said, voters are having a smooth time of it.
As to turnout, Pearl, like most of her colleagues, said “it’s way too early” to even have an inkling.
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