Stolen mail-in ballots in Middlesex County towns Woodbridge and Metuchen
Metuchen, NJ – “Election integrity” is now part of the political lexicon.
Of course, we always wanted safe and fair elections, but cries of Russian interference in the 2016 election and Donald Trump’s claims of a crooked 2020 election have made the issue more prominent.
So that’s why reports of stolen mail-in ballots last month in Woodbridge and Metuchen are so troubling.
Here is the official statement from the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, according to a spokesman.
“The U.S. Postal Service (USPS) notified our agency of this theft and has worked with us to properly notify affected customers in a specific delivery area. The investigation is ongoing, and timely notification was made to the Middlesex County Clerk to ensure customers were notified of this incident that may impact their vote by mail ballot if applicable.”
It added that the postal agencies and the clerk’s office were able to discover which ballots were stolen and notify voters. Those voters were given replacement ballots and officials said that since they know who the voters are, no ballots will be counted twice.
Here is a spokesperson for the clerk’s office:
“Election security is Middlesex County’s top priority. When the Middlesex County Clerk’s Office or the Board of Elections is notified by the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) or the U.S. Postal Inspection Service (USPIS) of any mail disruption, immediate action is taken to protect voter confidence and ensure every eligible vote is counted. This includes promptly issuing replacement ballots to affected voters. The Board of Elections then isolates and verifies ballots returned by those voters, confirming that replacements were properly issued and returned, and performing additional signature reviews to ensure authenticity.”
The thefts reportedly were an “isolated incident.” Metuchen and Woodbridge were identified as where they occurred, but it’s possible other locations were involved as well.
In Metuchen, Mayor Jonathan Busch offered a social media post that defended the integrity of voting in New Jersey. Here it is:
“There’s been some misinformation about voting lately, even here on some of the most frequented unofficial social media sites in the Borough.
But here’s the truth: New Jersey runs some of the safest, most secure, and most accessible elections in the country.
Voting and democracy belong to all of us. Don’t let confusion or fear keep anyone from participating.
Voting is your right, and your voice matters.”
Mail-in ballots – the ones apparently targeted in this incident – are quite popular,
VoteHub, an elections researcher, reports that 514,180 New Jerseyans have cast votes by mail as of Oct. 29. There are still thousands more ballots that are expected to be returned by Election Day.
By William Swanson, Special to The Central Observer