Morris County vows to buy more voting machines after long lines, trouble-plagued election

William Westhoven, Morristown Daily Record
·3 min read
1

The Morris County Board of Elections is investigating reports by officials in some towns who said they experienced a shortage of the county's new voting machines on Election Day as well as problems related to their operation.

Board of Elections administrator Dale Kramer, through the county communications office, said plans were already in the works to buy additional machines after some polling districts, given one machine instead of the usual two, saw long lines with up to two-hour waits.

But the board is "not going to cite causes and solutions until this full review is complete," she added.

Morris County retired its inventory of 794 Dominion-brand voting machines after the primary and took delivery of 536 new XL model machines manufactured by ES&S. The board hoped to use them in the June primary, but could not after the county commissioner board, which approved the purchase in late 2021, delayed authorizing funds for the machines into the spring while they haggled over the purchase details.

With 258 fewer machines deployed on Tuesday, some districts got one machine instead of two, officials confirmed.

Only two machines were available for voters at the Chester Twp. Municipal Building where they waited an hour and 45 minutes to cast their ballots on November 8, 2022.
Only two machines were available for voters at the Chester Twp. Municipal Building where they waited an hour and 45 minutes to cast their ballots on November 8, 2022.

ES&S also will conduct a "root-cause analysis" of the machine system to determine if the delays were the result of an overflow of voters at certain times during an election day that had higher-than-expected turnout, or if the machines —or a machine shortage — was to blame.

Several officials cited "growing pains" to the board, since the county clerk, poll workers and voters were all on a "learning curve" during the initial use of the new system.

County Clerk Ann Grossi issued a statement clarifying that "voting machines, the number of voting machines purchased, poll workers training and deployed to the polling locations, number of machines and electronic poll books at each location, maintenance, storage and delivery of the poll books and voting machines is solely under the purview of the Board of Elections, not the county clerk."

Election:Morris County sees mix of newcomers, incumbents win in contested school board races

She also "strongly refutes" allegations in a statement by Morris County Democratic Chair Amalia Duarte that attributed some of the issues voters had on election day to Grossi's office.

“We know of residents in Mendham Township who had to return to the polls after not being able to cast a ballot because they were placed in the wrong congressional district,” Duarte wrote. “In Chester [Township], there were long waiting times. It’s appalling that with so much time to prepare for an election, such basic, fundamental mistakes were made by County Clerk Ann Grossi. It’s appalling and sadly undermines the faith voters have in elections. Voting should be easy and straightforward.”

Duarte also criticized the commissioners for not buying enough voting machines.

Grossi said: "There simply was not enough XL voting machines to handle the number of voters. The number of polling machines at polling locations is solely the responsibility of the Board of Elections."

Kramer's statement promised the board "will look at the entire spectrum of complaints that came in before they come up with a conclusion."

The election night troubles drew rebukes from Republicans as well.

"I think a lot of voters in New Jersey were disenfranchised today with the horrible experience of voting," Mine Hill Mayor Sam Morris wrote in a Facebook post. "They were not prepared for the length of time it would take to vote especially when the machines were not working properly. Whether you're white, Black, Hispanic or green or purple this should be a lot easier process. I just don't know how they could have made it any harder. Voting, plowing the streets of snow and picking up the garbage are pretty much the 3 essentials and this one did not go well. Pretty p***** off."

Hanover Township Deputy Mayor Thomas "Ace" Gallagher saw problems at polling locations, including paper jams, but also saw technicians on hand to immediately address issues with machine operations.

"The county was very responsive" on election night, Gallagher said.

This article originally appeared on Morristown Daily Record: Morris County to buy voting machines after election mishaps