Two voters said that one location ran out of votes, but the corresponding secretary of the Montclair Democratic County Committee stated that this could not happen.

Authors: LOUIS C. HOCHMAN, TALIA WIENER and JAIMIE JULIA WINTERS news@montclairlocal.news

Although members of local political and community groups who closely followed the election said that the polls in Montclair on election day were progressing well, some residents reported that they were in trouble.

Most notably, a voting machine at Buzz Aldrin Middle School in Montclair's Ward 1, District 6, malfunctioned at around 6pm. Assemblyman Bob Russo said he was told that voting staff were continuing to collect votes from voters. If the machine fails, the program requires the collection of emergency ballots, which is a separate form.

Cary Chevat, communications chairman of the Montclair National Association for the Advancement of Colored People and corresponding secretary of the Montclair Democratic County Committee, said the machine returned to normal after about 45 minutes.

A representative of the Essex County Election Commission declined to comment on the damaged machine.

It is difficult to confirm the details of a one-time issue from other residents, but Montclair Local heard from a small number of people that although they wished to do so, they were not allowed to vote normally. Some problems may be attributed to the misunderstanding of voters or the voting staff who spoke with them. Further news about discussing their accounts with the Essex County Clerk and the Essex County Electoral Commission later on Tuesday and Wednesday has not yet returned.

Two residents told the local polling staff at the Charles Block School in Montclair that they had run out of standard ballots and that some third district residents were voting there. Residents said they received provisional votes.

"I am worried that my votes will not be counted correctly because officials did not try their best to explain why we need these votes," Brian DiFeo wrote to Montclair Local via email. "For example, when filling out the form, there are four options to choose from,'Why should I use a provisional ballot.'" But since there was no choice to describe the current situation, they told us to write a letter saying that their ballots ran out. "

Resident Victoria Surgent said that she encountered the same situation in Brock and provided a photo of her provisional ballot confirmation statement, with a handwritten line stating that the site's ballots have been exhausted. Surgent has been voting as a resident of District 2 and District 3. She said she also saw her provisional ballots put in a pile with other people instead of in a safe folder.

But Chevat said in an email to Montclair Local that "they can't run out of votes" because polling stations have runners all day. He said that anyone who submits a provisional ballot will receive one because he or she has already received the mailed ballot or came to the wrong district.

Some areas were closed and merged into other areas this year, which caused confusion for some voters. Chevat pointed out that a previous polling station at Edgemont Park House had been closed, and residents who had voted there were told to go to Edgemont School. He said that the town’s website initially did not notice the change, but the problem was resolved after Congressman Peter Jacobellis pointed out the problem earlier in the day.

Another voter, Adine Duron, encountered some problems that puzzled her-but the conversation with Montclair Local may have solved some of the problems.

Duron said that she and her husband received provisional votes at Bradford School, where they voted as residents of District 2 and District 1 (after years of voting at the Valley Road fire station), even though they were on the electoral roll superior. She said she was told it was "based on address."

However, earlier this week, county clerk Chris Durkin provided a list of mailed ballot requests and return shows that Durham received mailed ballots after applying for the first time in 2019. Individuals who require the mailing of ballots can choose to automatically send ballots in future elections in a given year. Duron said by email on Wednesday that she did not remember to check a box in the email to receive future votes, "but it clarified why I said on the list that I can't vote on the machine."

Despite this, she said that she has never received a mailed ballot (she thinks this may be due to a problem with the mail service). She wondered why her voting location changed after a few years.

"The big problem yesterday was that most people near me were asked which district we were in, but no one knew. This added to the confusion because they had doubled in these districts. At the fire station, we were all in the first place. Two [Zone 1], so it did not add a new hesitation to the question of which line to enter," she said. "The staff are nice and try to be fair to the line, but no one seems to be responsible and the atmosphere is chaotic."

Duron said, "The combination of a new voting system, a new polling station, a new procedure around [mail voting], and peak off-hours has caused my problems."

She also said that the number she used to check whether the provisional ballot was accepted was useless. As of Wednesday afternoon, the official number 1-877-NJVOTER (1-877-658-6837) seems to be valid.

Provisional ballots are counted before the total is certified-provided that no problems are found in the ballots, for example, the same voter has already sent a mailed ballot-but it has to wait until after the election day. Until the ballots are certified, any number of votes will not be considered official, although the media and campaigns often "call" elections when the remaining unfinished ballots are not enough to change the outcome.

Chevat said that earlier in the day, due to nearby construction, some voters had difficulty reaching the polling station of the Montclair Fire Station on Pine Street. Christa Rapoport, chairman of the Montclair Civil Rights Commission, said the Montclair police were on the spot to help residents pass.

Overall, earlier in the day, according to multiple people who followed the polls closely-Chevat, former Board of Education member and Vote Montclair member Sergio Gonzalez and Montclair Republican Club Chairman Jon Van Wagner, there seemed to be almost no problems.

But Van Wagner said he didn't like using Sharp on voting machines because he thought the waiter could see who the residents voted for, and said that writing candidates with Sharp is "almost impossible". (Some viral memes in the 2020 election complained about the use of Sharpies in the Arizona election, falsely claiming that voting machines could not read them, but Van Wagner made no such statement.) 

He also said that he felt unsafe about using the Dominion voting machine. Dominion is a nationally certified election system supplier. President Donald Trump’s allies baselessly claimed that these machines were involved in voter fraud in 2020, prompting the company to sue the former president’s two lawyers and Fox News; the lawsuit is ongoing. 

"Others have had similar problems to me, but Sharpie is upset about everyone's visible ballot vote, which is inserted into the Dominion machine," he wrote to Montclair Local via email. "Voters should have absolute confidence in this system. Yesterday was a disaster in this regard."

Carmel Loughman, communications chairman of the Montclair Regional Women's Voter League, said she found the latest process of voting in person "very cumbersome, but hopes it has enough checks and balances to prevent anyone from questioning the validity of the election."

The new process involves electronic voting books, replacing traditional paper voting books. The registration process on the electronic voting book prevents voters from multiplying due to previous mailing or early voting. Those who have registered to vote by mail but have not yet received the mailed ballot will receive provisional ballots for filling in. Voters fill in the ballots by hand, and then feed them into the machine for automatic tabulation.

Those who watched the poll results on Tuesday night also encountered some obstacles. The Essex County poll results website did not reflect any votes cast on Election Day until around 11:30 pm, when 31 of Montclair’s 35 constituencies appeared at the same time. As of Wednesday afternoon, no more results have been announced.

The results of the early voting and any mailed voting results that have been received are released shortly after the voting ends at 8 pm-but all results are incorrectly listed under Montclair's Ward 1 in District 1, regardless of where they actually came from.