New Jersey Returning To In-Person Voting, Elections, Murphy Says
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TRENTON, NJ — After he suspended it last year due to COVID, Gov. Phil Murphy announced Monday that New Jersey is gradually returning to in-person voting.
Speaking at his daily press conference Monday, Murphy said he decided that voting for two upcoming elections this spring will be held in person: Local school board elections, which have been pushed back to April 20, and municipal non-partisan elections, on May 11.
"These scheduled elections will be conducted in person," said the governor. "As always, voters will have the availability to request a vote-by-mail ballot for any reason. We will ensure that all in person polling places adhere to safety protocols, including face covering, social distancing and frequent sanitation."
While Murphy said he has not yet decided on the June 8 primary, which sees the highest turnout, he said he was "optimistic."
"While we are not making a decision on the June primary at this point, we are optimistic we will be able to conduct in person voting in June as well," said the governor.
The June 8 primary sees a much higher turn-out than school board and town elections. Murphy is running for re-election this year and will face Republican challengers.
Murphy caused an outcry when he decided last summer that the November 2020 presidential election would be nearly entirely vote by mail. Only New Jersey residents with a documented disability were able to vote in person at the polls in November. Ballots were sometimes mailed multiple times to the same person, or even to dead people. The state said it that happened because it mailed ballots to everyone on the voter rolls, which are not always the most up to date.
"We are able to take this step as our COVID numbers are headed, emphasis headed, in the right direction, and we are optimistic these trends will continue as more residents get vaccinated and the weather becomes warmer," said Gov. Murphy on Monday. "This is very different than the situation we confronted last summer when we had to make a decision on the November election knowing that our model showed a huge surge of COVID cases in the fall. Which, unfortunately, came to pass."
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This article originally appeared on the Woodbridge Patch
