Voting has taken on a whole new look this primary.
On the day voters normally would have been going to the polls, election workers are instead “zipping and stripping.”
That’s the term for going through the cleared ballots to get them ready to be scanned, Atlantic County Board of Elections Chair Lynn Caterson explained.
“Everything is totally unprecedented,” she said Tuesday. “We have a plan and we have lots and lots of people working on that plan.”
And there’s a lot of work to do.
There were 32,000 ballots ready to be counted Tuesday, with about 4,800 more to be processed.
The ballots first have to be cleared, meaning workers check the addresses and names against voter registration and then make sure everything is properly signed.
After that, they are “zipped and stripped,” with them put through the scanner.
Scanning had begun Tuesday, with the board opting to get the 32,000 cleared ballots scanned before going about the work of clearing the others.
“There are going to be a lot of ballots that haven’t even been touched by time we close out tonight,” she explained.
Around 8 or 8:30 Tuesday night, tallies will be made so that preliminary numbers can be released.
But Caterson said she plans to stay and continue counting.
Then the counting will continue Wednesday.
Voters have until 8 p.m. to have their mail-in ballots either postmarked or put into one of the dropboxes.
They are allowing a week for those ballots to come in.
If a ballot is missing a signature or one doesn’t match, those voters will receive a letter and have until July 23 to get the documents back to the board.
If someone didn’t receive their ballot, they can go to one of the polling places for a provisional ballot.
Voters are reminded that not all of the normal polling places are open. The governor’s order requires at least one spot in each town, with at least half of the usual total in each county.
A list of open places is provided below.
Masks must be worn and social distancing maintained.
Caterson said they are expecting a record amount of provisionals this year.
While she didn’t know how many that could be, she said in her time on the board — which began with a 2014 appointment — she’s seen a high of about 3,000.
