Hunterdon County voters re-elected County Clerk Mary Melfi and Board of Commissioners Director Susan J. Soloway and Commissioner Matt Holt, as over 56,375 vote by mail, early voting and election day machine returns have been counted in the county.
Board of Commissioners Deputy Director John E. Lanza, liaison for the Board of Elections and County Clerk’s Office, reported at the November 3rd Board meeting, “I can report that election day, the early voting process, and the vote by mail program were all huge successes thanks to the hard work by both the County Clerk’s Office and the Board of Elections team.”
All facets of the voting process proved to be successful, including the new early voting that took place between October 23 and October 31. No Early Ballot results were tallied prior to 8 pm on November 2nd. Lanza said,
“There were many challenges, but it was reported to me that there were no problems out of the ordinary. Nearly 12,000 individuals in the county voted by mail – all those submissions had to be opened, verified, and counted November 2nd. Over 4700 voters took advantage of early voting to cast their ballots on the new ESS voting machines, which is a paper verified system.
The initial accounts were well received by the voters and by the poll workers. And election day itself, warmly welcomed by the nearly 40,000 voters who prefer to cast their ballots in person, took place with minimal issues.” Lanza added, “All of the success came from many months of extensive planning and preparation by both the Board of Elections and the Clerk’s office.
A great many people worked a great many hours to pull it all together and they are to be congratulated and thanked.”
Provisional ballots will be opened and tabulated by Wednesday, November 10th. There are not enough provisional ballots to affect the outcome of the County elections.