The Passaic County Board of Elections is under fire — and possibly heading to court — after rejecting a push from local Republicans to beef up ballot security and speed up vote counting ahead of the November 4 general election.
The Passaic County Republican Organization had called for tighter oversight of ballots, including installing security cameras inside ballot storage rooms, setting up a two-party lock system to control access, and posting a sheriff’s officer on-site 24 hours a day for added protection.
GOP officials also demanded the county start opening and canvassing mail-in ballots five days before Election Day, a procedure they say is already being used successfully in other New Jersey counties.
“These are not radical reforms,” said Mark Semeraro, counsel for the Passaic County Republican Organization. “They are common-sense safeguards employed by other counties in New Jersey. Bergen and Essex do this and tabulate their election results without delay, unlike Passaic County.”
In a sharply worded letter to Board of Elections Chairman John Currie — who also happens to chair the Passaic County Democratic Party — Semeraro blasted the board’s “intentional silence” and accused it of “abdication of responsibility.”
“In an age where almost anything imaginable can be obtained at the click of a button with lightning speed, refusing to employ any and all means necessary to ensure a speedy and accurate election result is nothing short of an abdication of responsibility,” Semeraro wrote.
Republicans argue the board’s refusal feeds public mistrust and slows down the democratic process. They point to Passaic County’s reputation for dragging its feet on election results — sometimes taking more than a week after Election Day to report final tallies.
“There is no justification for Passaic County’s failure to engage in the early opening and canvassing of Vote-by-Mail ballots and employing security measures to ensure election integrity,” Semeraro said. “Regardless of political affiliation, New Jerseyans simply deserve to have a speedy and accurate election night.”
The GOP is now weighing legal action to force the county to adopt the security steps — setting up what could become yet another battle in New Jersey’s ongoing war over election integrity.
The state’s gubernatorial race, pitting Republican Jack Ciattarelli against Democrat Rep. Mikie Sherrill, is widely considered to be neck-and-neck, with polls showing the pair within the margin of error.
