PASCACK VALLEY AREA—Two of Bergen County’s first-ever early voting polling places, ahead of the Nov. 2 General Election, are in River Vale and Woodcliff Lake.
According to Bergen County elections officials, there will be eight early voting locations countywide, and anyone registered to vote in the election in Bergen County can avail themselves of the sites to cast their ballots in person nine days ahead of other in-person voters.
The addresses are:
- River Vale Senior and Community Center, 628 Rivervale Road
- Woodcliff Lake Tice Senior Center, 411 Chestnut Ridge Road
Both are open for voting Saturday, Oct. 23 through Sunday, Oct. 31. (Monday to Saturday, 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. and Sunday, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.)
Other municipalities in Bergen County that are hosting early voting are Fort Lee, Hackensack, Mahwah, Paramus, Rutherford and Teaneck.
According to the state Division of Elections Voter Information portal, as of Aug. 30, while “circumstances may change,” all voters were being asked to wear a face covering and observe social distancing at polling places for early voting and on Election Day.
Early voting is just one way to submit a ballot in this election. As always, each registered voter gets to file only one ballot.
This November, voters will select a governor and all 120 state Legislature seats. The Bergen County Clerk’s sear is up for re-election.
In the Pascack Valley, several seats on governing bodies are contested, including Washington Township’s mayor, and a number of school board seats are up for grabs.
As of Aug. 2, elections officials said there were 683,370 registered voters on the county rolls.
Karen Campanelli, River Vale’s township clerk, told Pascack Press, “I think it’s a great idea to give people more time to vote, and it’s time for us to increase participation and get more people voting.”
She said she consulted with Township Administrator Gennaro Rotella, and it was decided to offer up the Senior and Community Center for an early voting location. She said the county was looking for sites that were not in schools.
She said the early voting option would offer voters more flexibility in deciding when to go to the polls.
Based on a March order from Gov. Phil Murphy every county must establish early in-person voting locations based on population. County elections officials told us that initially up to 10 locations could be established under Murphy’s order, but the county currently plans to offer eight early-polling voting locations.
According to Debra Francica, the county’s new superintendent of elections, each early voting location will have five new Dominion voting machines that will output a paper ballot with the voter’s ballot choices.
After this paper is vetted, the voter will inserted it into a scanner at the polling location for tabulation and storage.
[Founded in 2003, Dominion Voting Systems is a leading global supplier of election technology. After finding itself on the defensive following assertions made about it in the 2020 United States presidential election, it posted a strenuous statement on its website: “Lies and misinformation have diminished the credibility of U.S. elections, subjected hardworking public officials and Dominion employees to harassment and death threats, and severely damaged the reputation of our company. Dominion is taking steps to defend our good name and reputation.” — Ed.]
Each polling location will also have staff with electronic polling books who can instantly look up and verify the voter’s registration, taking the place of the cumbersome voting books previously used, Francica said.
The new voting machines and electronic polling books were required under the law.
New Jersey became the 25th state to establish early voting when Murphy signed the new law.
Woodcliff Lake mayor Carlos Rendo, a Republican, said, “I think it’s a positive thing to get more people to the polls and increase voter turnout. It’s a good opportunity for the people to start voting early. Now they have [nine] days prior to the election to vote.”
In a Facebook post Aug. 27, Rendo said some residents contacting him were confused by an online state elections message telling them that they needed to opt out of a mail-in ballot if they had previously submitted an application to receive a mail-in ballot.
He noted only voters who had permanently requested a mail-in ballot or specifically requested to get a mail-in ballot for this election would get one this year.
Otherwise, all other registered voters would be able to vote in-person during the early voting period or on Election Day, Nov. 2.
Information on early voting will be sent out with sample ballots, Rendo said.
Both Francica and Bergen County Elections Supervisor Sabrina Taranto emphasized that in 2020 all registered voters received vote-by-mail (or mail-in) ballots by Murphy’s order in light of the pandemic.
However, unless a voter specifically files an application to receive a mail-in ballot, they will not receive one this year. The deadline for requesting a mail-in ballot is Oct. 26.
Taranto said some voters appear to believe that they need to opt out of mail-in voting because they voted by mail in 2020.
However, mostly everyone voted by mail in 2020 due to the governor’s order, she said, and there is no need to opt-out due to submitting a mail-in ballot last year.
That is not necessary, she said, and opting out of mail-in voting is only necessary if a voter has specifically requested to vote by mail in 2021, and they subsequently decide they prefer to vote in-person during early voting at one of eight sites or on Nov. 2 at local polls.
Those are the only individuals who may wish to opt out of mail-in voting, she said.
Taranto said nearly 64,000 voters have sent in requests to vote by mail in 2021, a little over 10% of the county’s registered voters. She said vote by mail ballots will go out in October.
To help clear up confusion among voters. Taranto said the county Elections Office will be sending out a flyer listing “Three Ways to Vote” in the Nov. 2 election:
- Going to your local polling location on Nov. 2;
- Choosing to vote by mail by requesting a mail-in ballot by Oct. 26 if you are not already set up to receive one. To check your voting status, call the county clerk’s office at (201) 336-7020; or
- Vote in person at any of eight early voting locations.
The flyer lists websites and phone numbers for more information: For questions about registration, call (201) 336-6109. For questions about your polling place, call (201) 336-6230. For questions about your vote-by-mail ballot, call (201) 336-7020.
In addition to a list of the eight early voting sites, the flyer provides a list of 31 drop-box locations available countywide for voters submitting mail-in ballots. These must be dropped off or postmarked by 8 p.m. on Nov. 2.
“While early voting [in person] may be brand new, people have been voting early for many years in New Jersey via vote-by-mail or mail-in ballots,” said Taranto.
She said mail-in ballots used to be known as absentee ballots.
