by Boyd Loving
Ridgewood NJ, In response to an Open Public Records Act request I recently submitted to the Bergen County Clerk’s Office, I have just received a list containing the last name, first name, middle initial, and street address for every Ridgewood voter whose mail in ballot was REJECTED in connection with the May 12, 2020 Board of Education, Board of Education Budget, and Village Council General Election.
The list contains the names of 710 voters. That is, 710 of the ballots submitted for the aforementioned election were rejected/not counted. The reasons for rejection are not specified in the document I received. However, many appear to have been received after the specified cut off date of Thursday, May 14, 2020.If my calculations are correct, approximately 15% of the total ballots submitted were rejected/not counted. Wow! That’s alarming, to say the least. I do not know whether the County Clerk’s Office has a notification process in place for rejected ballots. Thus, some of these voters may not know that their ballot was rejected.
