Letter: Very Concerning

Over the course of this weekend, I have been discussing the upcoming election with many of my friends and neighbors.

Through the course of the many conversations I had, a couple of concerning things became very apparent.

Not one of the close to 50 people I interacted with had as of yet mailed or dropped off their mail in ballot.

But what really concerned me, was that most of them thought that it was fine because they’re just voting in person on election day.
People in and around Lakewood need to wake up and fast.

THERE WILL BE NO IN-PERSON MACHINE VOTING DURING THIS ELECTION CYCLE!

If you want your vote to be counted, you MUST use the mail-in ballots being sent to you in the mail.

They can either be mailed back, or dropped off by a ballot drop-off box in front of the Ocean County Resource Center at 225 4th Street (in Lakewood) or at 3 other locations in Toms River.

Do not throw out your ballot or ignore it thinking that you will be able to vote in person. We have the privilege to make our voices heard being in a Medina Shel Chesed, so don’t throw that away because of ignorance.

Take 2 minutes to fill it out and send it back ASAP, or at least before Nov 3rd. Please let as many family, friends, and neighbors as possible about this. If you want things to get done on behalf of our community, VOTE!

Thank you

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43 COMMENTS

  1. There will be in-person voting this year on Nov 3rd. However it will be by provisional ballot only and will look very similar to the mail-in ballot and nothing like the electronic voting machine that you are used to. Additionally it will probably not be at the regular polling place that you regularly go to vote, and it will have all the social distancing requirements.
    The letter writer is correct though that this year you should fill out the mail-in ballot and not wait to vote in person as voting in-person will be more complicated, less likely to happen, and less likely to actually be counted.

  2. Please don’t spread misinformation. Every municipality will have at least one in-person polling location open. See vote.nj.gov to find locations.

    • You will not be able to use the machine unless you are handicapped. Lines will be insane since every person will be filling it out at the polling place. Additionally, those ballots will be counted after the mail ins so dont be fooled.

  3. They consolidated lots of areas and reduced in-person polling places by 50% so your polling place may change but you can still vote in person. Ideally, you should use the mail-in ballot and walk that into the polling place. Without it, you will only be allowed a provisional ballot which gets counted after all the mail-in and in-person votes are counted. Only people with handicaps will be allowed to vote in the regular voting booths.
    CHECK ONLINE IF YOUR VOTING PLACE WAS CHANGED. It most likely was.

  4. If you vote in person, you need to bring the mailed ballot in with you, or else you will receive a provisional ballot that can be discarded for a myriad of reasons.

  5. This is 100% true. Although the polling stations will technically be opened you will only receive a provisional paper ballot to fill out. This ballot will not be counted until at least nov 10th! Google it and you will find all the info. This quite possibly could be the biggest scam in election history!

  6. While I agree everyone should vote by mail, it is simply untrue to state that there will not be any in person voting in NJ. In fact, each municipality in NJ is REQUIRED to have at least one in person voting location. Stop talking down to our community when you don’t know what you are talking about..

    • Did you bother reading what it says at the link you provided?
      It clearly states that voters who prefer to cast a vote in person will receive a paper ballot to fill out at their polling location & only those with disabilities that prevent them from casting a paper ballot will have access to the machines.

      Follow your own link & READ it before posting your nonsense!

  7. I would encourage people to reread the letter. It clearly says that there will be no in person MACHINE VOTING this election cycle. The only way to vote in person will be by provisional ballot which in many cases does not end up getting counted.

  8. To lkwd voter- this may be true for provisional ballots but you CANNOT VOTE IN PERSON ON ELECTION DAY this year. Only paper ballots. Check out the nj.gov website.

    • If you want Trump tp won, you should get a ballot and write in Moshe Shmedrick. They will find him in time, don’t worry.

      Anyway, Trump has a Supreme Court in place to vote for whatever he wants, and those are the only votes that count in the republican way of life. So no problems there

  9. Another I forgot to mention in my previous post. Besides for only being able to fill out a provisional ballot, there will only be a few polling (if that) locations opened. This will create utter chaos among those thinking that everything is as usual. The lines will be crazy and all because our government has done a terrible job making people aware about this.

  10. For anyone who may have thrown out their ballot not realizing (like me) I believe you can bring your license to the Toms River library across from the court house and get a new ballot and put it in right there.

    • Replacement ballots are issued by the Ocean County Clerk, not the Board of Elections. 732-929-2018 Leave a message and they will return your call.

  11. After reading the above comments, the Democrats have accomplished what they wanted. They have inserted confusion and discord into the election. People will get frustrated and not vote or have their votes cancelled for some reason.
    The Democrats will do anything to keep New Jersey BLUE.

  12. The information regarding voting in the November 2020 election has been clearly communicated via the many press updates by Governor Murphy and the members of the NJ elections board.m over the last few months. That being said, if for whatever reasons an individual has not been keeping up with election information there has been written communication in newspapers.
    Most importantly is it is up to the individual citizen voter to take the personal responsibility to educate themself, either through the above mentioned sources and/or by utilizing the internet. As always when gathering information it is beyond important to verify that one is using reputable sources.

    VOTE! It is your right as an American Citizen! Keep in mind that when you cast your vote that you do so based on the research that you have done on each candidate (at all levels) and done on each of the questions, not by who might have been suggested to you or by the political party they belong to:
    Don’t vote color or column, vote your heart, your mind, and your conscience!

  13. We went through this where we lived. We thought we can show up to our polling place and we would be able to vote in person. We were told, due to the governor’s executive order, we had to vote via mail order ballot. However, if we wanted to vote in house, we would be able to vote by a provisional ballot. These ballots end up being counted only after the other ballots are counted and they make sure you didn’t vote via the mail order balloting. As an aside, many times they don’t even bother counting provisional ballots if the race is not close enough.

    It is clear and obvious to anyone who can be honest with themselves that the governor is trying to keep the state from voting for the president. Statistics show that Republicans want to vote in person. By not allowing in-person voting, they are trying to disenfranchise people who will vote for the president as well as anyone on the right.

    With all that said, it is very important that people vote. In looking into the polls, I am finding it very unbelievable that the claim is Biden is ahead but then again polls can be shaped to however the person paying for it wants them to come out.

    People should either vote by returning their mail order ballot and for goodness sakes please make sure it’s signed where it’s supposed to be signed. Make sure it’s in the outer envelope like it’s supposed to be. Read the instructions and follow them to the letter!

    If you can’t return your mail order ballot, make sure to go online and see where you’re polling place is as it is possible your normal polling place will not be available unless you are ADA.

    We need to vote vote vote.

  14. My apologies for any spelling or grammar errors in my previous post. I was doing Google Voice to text and I hit submit before checking for errors.

  15. nj.gov/state/elections/vote-polling-location.shtml
    If you scroll down you can find you polling places. You can bring your ballot and hand it in in person.

  16. I am living in temp location within Lakewood and have my mail forwarded. my husband and I are registered to vote. we did NOT receive any ballots. (neither did we receive mail in ballots in the June/July local elections) anyone know what I should do?

  17. My POTUS said many times that mail in voting is a scam to help Biden so as a HUUUGE Trump fan I will NOT use a mail in ballot!! Mail in ballots are just to make sure that sleepy wins. This post is fake news just like the china virus and Russia coluuuusion. #MAGA #KAG #Trump2020 #lockherup

    • Take your head out of the sand or your vote wont be counted!! What Murphy did was wrong, but you are falling into his trap! I will personally bring my M-I-B to the county office so no mailman/poll worker gets in bet. me & my vote ie: throws it out! There is also a tracking system so if you do it early enough you might be able to know if yours was thrown out before election day

  18. If the Lakewood Scoop could make this article a little more prominent, it would be a big help. I am someone who does follow what is going on and also just threw the ballot in the garbage thinking I could vote in person. It is going to be a huge hassle. I am going tomorrow to Tom’s River Library and getting another ballot. Do not throw out your ballot and just mail it in. It is the best we can do under the Democratic circumstances.

  19. For those of us who have concerns with our ballots I.e. getting lost and other concerns of our vote not getting counted please visit njgop.org as they go through steps in explaining how to make sure your vote is counted as every vote matters ….

  20. Why won’t people just mail in their ballots or drop them in the Dropbox. Do people NOT want to understand how crazy this election is for the people who are working it. Why in the world would anybody want to stand in long lines at the polls, putting their lives at risk, while they wait for hundreds of people to slowly fill out provisional ballots. You could be in line for hours! What if its raining? You will be outside waiting in a line that stretches down the street while getting rained on. You will wind up dropping a ballot in a Dropbox anyway. And no, you won’t be allowed to move ahead in line to drop off your ballot. There is a process to handing your ballot in. Things to sign. You will wait in line with the provisional voters even if you just want to drop off your ballot. Any ballot not processed in the regular way will be rejected…so if you just try to drop it and run your ballot will be rejected. Take pity on yourselves, don’t wait until election day, 150,000 ballots have been received so far, the election board is processing 8000 per day. While everybody else in the county is sitting in a dry comfortable place on election day, people in Lakewood will be standing in a never ending line, soaking wet, and exposing themselves to the virus. And why? Because of senseless and unreasonable tin foil hat conspiracy kooks. Don’t be one of them

  21. I’m writing to confirm that even though some polling places will be open..the only people who will be allowed to vote in person (in a voting booth) are the disabled. Others of you may
    Drop your ballot at a ballot box before or on Election Day
    Drop your mail in ballot at your polling place
    Fill out a provisional ballot at the polling place on Election Day (May or may not be counted)
    Mail your ballot (not recommended)
    If you lost your ballot, or never received one, contact the Ocean County Board of elections to get a new one.
    DO N OT THINK YOU CAN VOTE AT A POLLING PLACE ON ELECTION DAY. Unless you are disabled, YOU MAY ONLY DROP A MAIL IN BALLOT OR FILL OUT A PROVISIONAL BALLOT.

  22. For those who don’t want to mail-in their ballots, here are some Secure Drop Box locations where you could put in your ballot up until November 3rd by 8pm:

    Lakewood: OC Northern Resource Center 225 4th St (Passport building)

    Toms River: OC Library – 101 Washington St

    Jackson: OC Library – 2 Jackson Dr

  23. From the NJ Elections website:
    “Either return your ballot by mail, bring your completed and sealed ballot in-person to your designated polling location or your county’s Board of Elections office, or place it in a secure “ballot drop box” located throughout your county.”

  24. Other than the absentee ballots these mail in ballots require a copy of some kind of ID. Without it if you do not fax it in within 10 days or so AFTER the election, they will discard your vote. Please read the instruction paper included with your ballot.

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