By Stephen Appezzato
FREEHOLD – One campaign strategy has some Monmouth County voters confused.
The Monmouth County Clerk’s office received calls from concerned residents reporting they received pre-filled, vote-by-mail applications. According to callers, the applications are pre-printed with voter information, including the names and addresses of residents.
According to the county clerk’s office, the mailings have “led many voters to question why they received these applications, how their information was obtained, and who sent the applications to them.”
Monmouth County Clerk Christine Giordano Hanlon advised residents that these pre-filled, vote-by-mail applications are not being sent to voters by her office or any of Monmouth County’s election offices. Rather, local campaigns and political committees are distributing them to residents.
This can be particularly confusing if residents have already applied to vote by mail in the upcoming election.
Hanlon said this campaign technique is “common and legal.”
That explains where the mailed voter applications came from, but how have local campaigns obtained voter data?
Surprisingly, it is more accessible than many might think.
According to the Monmouth County Clerk’s office, organizations, political committees and candidates can obtain this data from the Statewide Voter Registration System. The database is under the New Jersey Division of Elections’ oversight. Furthermore, under New Jersey law, some of this data is considered an open public record. Because of this, it can be easily obtained.
“It is important that voters understand that these applications are not official election mail from Monmouth County’s election offices,” Hanlon said, “and are not mandatory to be completed in order to vote in the 2023 general election.”
To vote by mail in the upcoming election, residents must complete a vote-by-mail application and return it to the Monmouth County Clerk’s office. Once approved, voters will then receive official ballots.
“Voters have a choice as to whether to complete the applications and to send them in,” Hanlon said. A mailed-in ballot is just one of three ways residents in Monmouth County can choose to exercise their right to vote; they may also vote early in person beginning Oct. 28 at designated polling locations or at their assigned polling location on Election Day.
According to the New Jersey Voter Information Portal, counties usually begin mailing vote-by-mail ballots to voters 45 days before the general election, which this year occurs Nov. 7. Ballots must be postmarked on or before Election Day and received by the Board of Elections within six days of Election Day to be valid.
The article originally appeared in the September 28 – October 4, 2023 print edition of The Two River Times.
