New Jersey Will Hold Mail-in Election in November, Over Trump's Objections.
'Gov. Philip D. Murphy said all 6.3 million voters in the state would be sent ballots to return either by mail or deposit in secure drop boxes.
New Jersey voters will for the first time cast their ballots for president predominantly by mail in November.
Gov. Philip D. Murphy, a Democrat, announced Friday that the upcoming general election would be conducted using mostly mail-in ballots to ensure voters’ and poll workers’ safety during the pandemic.
The governor, citing the success of the state’s predominantly vote-by-mail primary election last month, said all 6.3 million New Jersey voters would be sent ballots to return either by mail, in person or into secure drop boxes.
“Making it easier to vote does not favor any one political party,” Mr. Murphy said, “but it does favor democracy.”
New Jersey joins a growing number of states that have shifted to mail-in ballots to minimize the risks posed by the coronavirus, even as President Trump continues to sow doubt, claiming without evidence that the process is plagued by fraud. Voters in at least eight other states and Washington, D.C. — an estimated 38 million people — are also being mailed ballots to cast votes in November.
Mr. Murphy said the state would build on the lessons learned during the July 7 primary, the first broad test of voting by mail in New Jersey. Election officials will expand the number of secure locations for in-person delivery of ballots and open more polling sites for voters to complete provisional ballots on Election Day.
Ballots will be mailed the first week of October, and all schools — the site of many polling locations — will be closed for in-person classes on Nov. 3.
“You should be checking your mailbox,” said Tahesha Way, secretary of the Department of State. “And if it is the second week of October and it hasn’t arrived — do something.”
Ms. Way also asked “young, healthy” individuals to consider serving as Election Day poll workers, and she noted that New Jersey residents on probation or parole are now eligible to vote under a law that took effect in March.'>>>
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/14/nyregion/nj-vote-by-mail-election.html
