• Home
  • Opinion
  • Quizzes
  • Redistricting
  • Sections
  • About Us
  • Voting
  • Independent Voter News
  • Campaign Finance
  • Civic Ed
  • Directory
  • Election Dissection
  • Events
  • Fact Check
  • Glossary
  • News
  • Analysis
  • Subscriptions
  • Log in
Leveraging Our Differences
  • news & opinion
    • Big Picture
      • Civic Ed
      • Ethics
      • Leadership
      • Leveraging big ideas
      • Media
    • Business & Democracy
      • Corporate Responsibility
      • Impact Investment
      • Innovation & Incubation
      • Small Businesses
      • Stakeholder Capitalism
    • Elections
      • Campaign Finance
      • Independent Voter News
      • Redistricting
      • Voting
    • Government
      • Balance of Power
      • Budgeting
      • Congress
      • Judicial
      • Local
      • State
      • White House
    • Justice
      • Accountability
      • Anti-corruption
      • Budget equity
    • Columns
      • Beyond Right and Left
      • Civic Soul
      • Congress at a Crossroads
      • Cross-Partisan Visions
      • Democracy Pie
      • Our Freedom
  • Pop Culture
      • American Heroes
      • Ask Joe
      • Celebrity News
      • Comedy
      • Dance, Theatre & Film
      • Diversity, Inclusion & Belonging
      • Faithful & Mindful Living
      • Music, Poetry & Arts
      • Sports
      • Technology
      • Your Take
      • American Heroes
      • Ask Joe
      • Celebrity News
      • Comedy
      • Dance, Theatre & Film
      • Diversity, Inclusion & Belonging
      • Faithful & Mindful Living
      • Music, Poetry & Arts
      • Sports
      • Technology
      • Your Take
  • events
  • About
      • Mission
      • Advisory Board
      • Staff
      • Contact Us
Sign Up
  1. Home>
  2. Voting>
  3. vote by mail>

N.J. first state to reverse Covid-inspired switch to voting all by mail

David Hawkings
February 09, 2021
New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy

New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy said social distancing measures will be enforced in polling places.

Bennett Raglin/Getty Images for Montclair Film

New Jersey has become the first state to back away from a pandemic-driven switch to conducting elections almost entirely remotely.

Projections of declining Covid-19 cases by the spring prompted Gov. Phil Murphy's announcement Monday that the state's longtime reliance on in-person voting will resume for school board elections in April, municipal contests in May and probably the gubernatorial and legislative primaries in June.

The decision to conduct last fall's general election mainly by mail created more of a ruckus, but also more of a difference in civic participation, than in any other place that made a similar change.


The switch heralded a blizzard of criticism from voters worried about entrusting their ballots to the Postal Service, many of whom insisted on showing up at local polling stations that were supposed to be used only by the physically didabled — and furious about reports of bureaucratic snafus, including the use of outdated lists to send some ballots to dead people and multiple ballots to living people.

The system also had to endure a lawsuit from the Trump campaign, which argued the Democratic governor exceeded his authority by decreeing the alternate system. But, in the end, it seemed to work best for the Republicans.

Sign up for The Fulcrum newsletter

Voters crushed the state's turnout record — 77 percent of eligible New Jerseyans cast a ballot, fully 10 points better than the nation as whole — even as the numbers voting in Democratic urban strongholds slipped while the share of people voting in GOP-friendly suburban counties soared. The results were higher-than-usual percentages for some Republican congressional candidates, although no seats changed hands. And President Biden carried the state's 14 electoral votes by 16 points, a similar margin to other recent Democratic nominees.

In the end, 86 percent of New Jersey ballots were cast using envelopes, one of the highest shares in the nation. Four years ago the number was 7 percent, one of the smallest percentages.

The local contests in the spring usually generate minimal turnout. And there is not much suspense ahead of the June primaries, when Murphy's nomination for a second term is assured and so is that of his GOP challenger, former state Rep. Jack Ciatarelli.

Murphy said he was "optimistic" that vaccination rates and declining Covid cases will allow in-person voting in June, but for now his decision only applies to the first two elections.

"As always, voters will have the availability to request a vote-by-mail ballot for any reason," he said. "We will ensure that all in person polling places adhere to safety protocols, including face covering, social distancing and frequent sanitation."

Similar turnout boosts marked the 2020 elections in the other five places that for the first time sent all registered voters an absentee ballot: California, Nevada, Vermont, almost all of Montana and Washington, D.C. None of them has decided for sure what their election systems will be for 2022 or beyond. New Jersey was pressed to make a decision because it and Virginia are the only states with elections for governor and the legislature this year.

From Your Site Articles
  • Lawsuit aims to halt any more online voting in New Jersey - The ... ›
  • New local election ordered in NJ after evidence of fraud - The Fulcrum ›
  • New Jersey election officials threw out nearly 20 percent of mail-in ... ›
  • Trump team sues to stop New Jersey's vote-by-mail plan - The Fulcrum ›
Related Articles Around the Web
  • New Jersey Absentee Ballots - Vote.org ›
  • Murphy approves fix to law encouraging voting by mail after it was ... ›
  • New Jersey's vote-by-mail election wasn't a disaster. Top officials ... ›
  • NJ DOS - Division of Elections - Track My Ballot ›
vote by mail

Want to write
for The Fulcrum?

If you have something to say about ways to protect or repair our American democracy, we want to hear from you.

Submit
Get some Leverage Sign up for The Fulcrum Newsletter
Confirm that you are not a bot.
×
Follow

Support Democracy Journalism; Join The Fulcrum

The Fulcrum daily platform is where insiders and outsiders to politics are informed, meet, talk, and act to repair our democracy and make it live and work in our everyday lives. Now more than ever our democracy needs a trustworthy outlet

Contribute
Contributors

Our shared humanity and collective responsibility

Jenn Hoos Rothberg

The conservative mind at 70

Michael Lucchese

Fulcrum Rewind: How to get along at Thanksgiving

Debilyn Molineaux
David L. Nevins

How reforming felony murder laws can reduce juvenile justice harms

Margaret Mikulski

What if neither party can govern?

John Opdycke

The case for the 4th, from a part-time American

Flora Roy
latest News

Don’t soundproof your heart

Tim Shriver
2h

A new case for electoral reform

Reinhold Ernst
2h

Podcast: Dr. F Willis Johnson in rich conversation with Steve Lawler

Lennon Wesley III
23h

Ranked choice voting won election day 2023

Ashley Houghton
Deb Otis
23h

Could George Santos torch the House by vacating the Speaker

Kevin R. Kosar
23h

Slovakia’s election deep fakes show how AI could be a danger to U.S. elections

David Levine
Louis Savoia
28 November
Videos
Who is the new House Speaker Rep. Mike Johnson?

Who is the new House Speaker Rep. Mike Johnson?

Our Staff
Video: Jordan bully tactics backfire, provoke threats and harassment of fellow Republicans

Video: Jordan bully tactics backfire, provoke threats and harassment of fellow Republicans

Our Staff
Video Rewind: Reflection on Indigenous Peoples' Day with Rev. F. Willis Johnson

Video Rewind: Reflection on Indigenous Peoples' Day with Rev. F. Willis Johnson

Our Staff
Video: The power of young voices

Video: The power of young voices

Our Staff
Video: Expert baffled by Trump contradicting legal team

Video: Expert baffled by Trump contradicting legal team

Our Staff
Video: Do white leaders hinder black aspirations?

Video: Do white leaders hinder black aspirations?

Our Staff
Podcasts

Podcast: Dr. F Willis Johnson in rich conversation with Steve Lawler

Lennon Wesley III
23h

Podcast: Dr. F. Willis Johnson in a rich conversation with Patrick McNeal

Our Staff
14 November

Podcast: Better choices, better elections

Our Staff
23 October

Podcast: Are state legislators really accountable to their voters?

Our Staff
06 October
Recommended
Don’t soundproof your heart

Don’t soundproof your heart

Big Picture
Our shared humanity and collective responsibility

Our shared humanity and collective responsibility

Big Picture
A new case for electoral reform

A new case for electoral reform

Big Picture
Podcast: Dr. F Willis Johnson in rich conversation with Steve Lawler

Podcast: Dr. F Willis Johnson in rich conversation with Steve Lawler

Podcasts
Ranked choice voting won election day 2023

Ranked choice voting won election day 2023

Big Picture
Could George Santos torch the House by vacating the Speaker

Could George Santos torch the House by vacating the Speaker

Big Picture