SOUTH JERSEY (KYW Newsradio) — Early in-person voting begins Saturday in New Jersey, and new voting machines are being used across different counties.
“It’ll be different,” said Camden County Board of Elections Republican Commissioner Rich Ambrosino. “The way [voters] check in with the poll workers is slightly different on an electronic poll book rather than the old paper poll book.”
Voters will mark their own ballot on paper, then feed it into the scanner, which counts the votes.
“I think they’re going to feel a lot more comfort that their vote will be counted as they meant it to be, because they’re filling out the ballot themselves and they’re actually putting it in the scanner that tabulates the votes,” he said.
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Voters can use the touch screen or a pen and paper — either way, they will still end up with a hard copy to put through the scanner.
The old machines will be rolled out on Election Day in many places. Camden County didn’t order enough this year to replace the old ones, because election officials didn’t think there was enough time to get them all set up and tested. Many other counties are in the same boat.
Meanwhile, Stephanie Salvatore, superintendent of the Gloucester County Board of Elections, said the new machines will be used across the board. Replacing the old ones has been a work in progress for about five years, and she can’t wait to see them in action in a general election.
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Mail-in ballots are also an option this year, but voters can’t bring a completed mail-in ballot to a polling place. There are drop boxes for those.
Election officials recommend dropping off ballots rather than relying on the mail as it gets closer to Election Day.
To find the polling place closest to you, visit your county’s election website.
For more general information on voting in New Jersey, click here.